Battlefields and Biju
by HistorianoftheKais
Summary: Most fans would love to take part in a series they love. But what about a casual fan? How is someone with only vague knowledge supposed to react when given the task of helping to avert a catastrophe? Armed with only vaguely remembered knowledge and in an area rarely touched by the series, one person will prove that they can make a difference.
1. Chapter 1

Have you ever woken up and not had the slightest clue about where you were or how you got there? I'm not talking about the split second when you wake up from a vivid dream and your brain needs a second to remember it is awake. What I'm talking about is where you have a blank spot in your memories and nothing around you is familiar. If you have, I would dearly like some advice because I have suddenly found myself in the situation I just described.

Who am I? That's a good question and, now that I think about it, a question that I would also like the answer to myself. It looks like there are more holes in my memory than merely how did I end up in this strange place. Why don't I focus on what I do know with absolute certainty? I'll start with this place I've found myself in. It's a strange place filled with glowing multi-colored ever changing clouds. The clouds are changing both in what color each part is and in what shape they are in. Strangely, I've found that I can both expand and narrow my focus on the clouds. This lets me see that the clouds are made up of little glowing spheres of light. It also lets me broaden my view so that the clouds go on for miles and miles to the point where the individual shades of light disappear into an indescribably beautiful glowing piece of art.

Part of me is wondering why I am not a gibbering mess right now. I mean, between the memory losses, the strange landscape, my sudden change in zoom focus around me, and my just discovered inability to feel any of my limbs why wouldn't I have a break down? It doesn't matter how tough you are or think you are getting hit with all of these at once should be way more than you can handle. However, I'm not panicking, I'm not worrying, and I am not even feeling the least bit anxious. What I am feeling is joy. The closest I can compare this joy to is the feeling a little kid has when he or she is getting a hug from their parents while holding a toy they wanted which was just given to them. Wish I had a better way with words, because that joy is only a pale echo of what I'm feeling right now in this place wherever it may be.

There was a flash of light just as I was starting to get comfortable wherever I was and when the light receded I found myself in yet another unknown location. However, this new location was more recognizable to me. I was standing, and I can confirm that because I could feel my feet again, in some unknown basilica. It was a breathtaking blend of Byzantine and Gothic architecture filled with frescos, mosaics, stain-glass windows, icons, and statues of masterful quality. There were different styles for each medium all covering different scenes from the Bible and Christian tradition that somehow seamlessly meshed with each other.

Why couldn't I place this cathedral? I would have expected any art history course worth its cost to at least mention a place with this many different styles of artwork of this quality mixed together. If not the art teacher, then shouldn't the history teacher have mentioned this place? A building this large and magnificently built should have taken generations to construct and cost an emperor's ransom. This church could only have been built if it was at the heart of a very rich empire or maybe a kingdom. Nothing else could have mobilized the money, manpower, and material to make such a structure if the architectural clues were correct and this place was built in the Middle Ages.

A friendly voice cut off my musings and said, "This place never existed." I turned towards the voice and was surprised to see Rex Harrison of all people sitting in a chair wearing a costume from his role in The Agony and the Ecstasy. But that didn't make any sense, Rex Harrison has been dead for decades and here he was looking like he did in the 1960s! The look alike smiled at me and then said, "Please take a seat." He then motioned his hand to a chair that either suddenly appeared next to him or that I hadn't noticed before. I'm personally leaning to the chair suddenly appearing given everything else I've experienced so far today.

I walked over to the chair and sat down earning me a smile from the faux Harrison which strangely filled me with the sense of joy that I felt in that cloud place. My companion then said, "I created this place so that the two of us could have a chat without you being overwhelmed my child. This form I'm using to talk to you is also something I created since my true self would overwhelm you. With that out of the way, let us move on to the next question that you want answered. What is happening to you and why do you have gaps in your memory?"

A ghost of a frown appeared on my companion's face for a second as he said, "The answer to both of these is same my child: you died and this is the afterlife. You cannot recall your death at the moment because it was quiet traumatic. One of those soon to be pit dwellers attacked a venue you were at supposedly in my name." There was a pause as my companion smiled vindictively and said, "Make that a newly arrived pit dweller. He'll find his afterlife very different from what he thought he'd get."

Hearing that I died in what was probably a terrorist attack was a bit of a downer. I hadn't given death too much thought beforehand. I was kind of hoping for the dying peacefully in my bed at a 100 something surrounded by a large family way to leave the mortal coil. However, if that cloud place was the afterlife I could be content.

My companion then spoke again, "You are no doubt wondering why I want to talk to you here. As a general policy, I like to let the souls of the departed go to their appropriate rewards or punishments after death. Your afterlife, which you briefly experienced, is what you earned through your life's efforts. The reason we are meeting like this is so that I can offer you a deal."

I frowned and said, "Why do you need to offer me a deal if you are who I think you are?" I didn't want to say it out loud, but everything I had seen suggested that this person in front of me was the proverbial big guy upstairs.

Faux Harrison smiled an almost fatherly smile as he said, "Free Will is the most precious gift I give sentient beings throughout my creations. I will never abrogate that gift even if overriding a person's choice would be better for them in the long run. There is a task I would like for you to do, but I will not force you to do. You must accept it of your own free will."

That was something I could respect and I figured it would be polite to at least hear my companion out. "Could you tell me more about this deal?" I asked.

There was a nod from my companion who then answered me. "As I mentioned, I have many creations. Your world and your universe is one of countless others I have created. Each one is unique and a masterpiece in its own right. I like to show my creations off by allowing people in each world to catch glimpses of others which serve as the driving inspirations of storytellers and painters who in turn share my creation with others. Most, but not all, stories you've read or heard about were inspired in this way. It is quite a joy for me when a story about one of my creations becomes very popular in another creation with my children talking about this or that point."

"However, things don't always go as they should in my creations because of the actions of the inhabitants of those creations and this leads to massive suffering for my children. Your world, for all of its problems, is one of the better ones of my creations. It still has a way to go, but my children on Earth are improving things one step at a time. In other creations of mine, things are in very dire straits. I want to improve the situation in these worlds. The trick is that I have to help in a way that does not negate free will and sometimes my agents decide that they don't want to help as I hoped."

"This leads to the deal I want to make with you my child. I have decided to do something different and I want to send an agent to help avert a massive disaster knowing that this is their purpose in life. If you accept my offer, I will grant you a new chance at life in one of these worlds where you will be placed in such a way that you will be able to help the 'chosen one' of that world avert a truly terrible fate: the loss of all free will and then the loss of all life on a planet. You will also be given some tools to help you on your journey. These tools will also be helped by your familiarity with the world as it was retold to you before in your previous life."

I may not be the best person around, but the idea of letting a whole world's population going extinct did not sit well with me. The fact that I could do something to stop that was very tempting. However, that was also a massive responsibility and the thought of standing up against something that could cause what my companion described was frightening even if I was only supposed to become the support team.

Faux Harrison put his hand on my shoulder which caused my emerging anxiety to disappear. He then said, "This is an offer for you. If you do not want to accept it then I will let you return to the afterlife for all eternity. If you do accept my offer you will be helping to save the lives of millions. You will also have the opportunity to live another life, a privilege I rarely allow. Depending on your actions, you could live a long full life once your task is complete in happiness before returning to the afterlife. An afterlife that you would find richer and even more enjoyable to you thanks to the good work you will have done in your second life. Take a moment and think things over before you tell me your decision."

I thought about the situation as my companion asked to do. On the one hand I had died and part of me wanted to return to the afterlife. That feeling of being wrapped in pure joy was so good it was almost addictive. On the other hand, Millions of peoples' lives were on the line which I would have the power to help. What would it say about me as a person if I let them suffer for my own immediate happiness? I turned to Faux Harrison and said, "I'll do it. I'll help you out."

My companion smiled and said, "Thank you for helping me out. Before I reincarnate you I want to give you some advice. First, treat the story of the universe you are going to that you previously read about as a guide. Second, remember that everything and everyone you meet in that new world is real even with the gift I am going to give you. Third, remember that I need a soldier and not a saint to help stop this crisis. Finally, the customs of your new world will be different from what you are used to from Earth. Accept them, but don't forget to be a good person."

* * *

An infant's brain cannot handle an adult's mind and that's a good thing. Being a baby was something I was happy not to remember the first time and I'm glad not to remember it the second time around. Seriously, who wants to remember lying around for hours on end, unable to feed yourself, and having to have a diaper because you can't use a toilet? This mercy did come at a cost though. I lost a fair amount of my memories of my first life during the first couple of years of my new life. Text-book information like dates, nations, historical inventions, and events of great significance remained. Personal things like my old family, my friends, favorite foods, etc. have been forgotten.

I suppose that forgetting my old life does make it easier to start my life over as Domon Kamiya of Suna. That's right my new life is in Suna, as in Sunagakure of the Naruto franchise. I'm not quite sure what time this is in comparison to the time shown in the Naruto series. For one, as a four year old I don't have a lot of access to local news. Second, even if I did get ahold of a newspaper there's no guarantee that I'd find news that would let even the biggest fanboy figure out when I was in time. Third, the Naruto series I read in passing was created from someone getting visions of this world. I have no clue what sort of artistic licenses Kishimoto took with the vision to write the story.

An example of this is my own name. Domon Kamiya sounds Japanese even if my name is in western order for given and family names. This is actually the short version of my name. I saw the complete version of my name once when one of the orphanage attendants dropped some paperwork. My full name is Domon son of Bakin son of Ichiro of Clan Kamiya from Sunagakure. My name is not an exception as I saw the same pattern of person-father-grandfather-clan-settlement on all other people's paperwork as well. Epithets like the Sand Siblings had in the TV show are also very common in the Land of Wind. Everyone covered in history so far has one.

I am an orphan in this life as the mentioning of the orphanage earlier implied. It's sadly a fate that can happen when one lives on a continent that flares up into massive wars every couple of years. Most orphans are taken care of by other members of their clan. However, there are still those like me who don't have any other clan members in the village who are taken care of by the orphanage. It's not so bad I guess. I might have said something differently if I could remember more of my first life, but I don't so I don't really have anything personal to compare it with. I mean, I've got a roof over my head, plenty of decent food to eat, some shared toys to play with, and a small library of books to read. Suna considers orphans like me and the others here to be under the aegis of the Kazekage so there is a social protection that many orphans in clan based societies back on earth didn't have.

My musing was cut off when Miyako, one of the orphanage's caretakers, called out, "Alright children! I'm going to check on your beds in ten minutes. Everyone who made their bed properly will get an extra fruit portion for breakfast today." This caused a faint screen to pop up in front of me asking if I wanted to accept a quest to make my bed. I blinked my right eye once to accept the quest causing the screen to disappear. I then glanced at my bed. It looked correctly made, but to test it I pulled out a mon coin and bounced it off of the bed. This satisfied me since now I knew I'd complete the quest and get that extra fruit slice.

That's right, one of the tools I was given to help out in the Naruto world was the Gamer ability. However, the game mechanics for my life are very different from any game system I remember back on Earth and I studied it extensively to pass the time as a toddler. First of all, there is no general experience system. My level, which is currently only level 2, is linked to my skills. These skills are associated with one of my seven stats: Strength, Vitality, Intellect, Wisdom, Dexterity, Agility, Charisma, and Luck. My stat level has an effect on how effective an associated skill is along with the skill's level. My personal level increases if my combined skills are level up 100 times. Normal skills have 1000 levels to them with each level requiring more effort to get to than the one before. There's also supposed to be a jump in the leveling difficulty for a skill each time I reach a milestone which also earns me a Feat that acts a permanent bonus to my abilities.

Now, the reason I said normal skills is the fact that I currently don't have access to those skills. I'm only a preschooler to use an old Earth description and I only have access to tutorial skills such as speaking, walking, reading, etc. These skills only have 10 levels with the only associated feat being at level 10 allowing me to do those actions without thinking about them. There is something very annoying when you have to work your butt off to master toilet training just so you can get the feat of not going in your pants. It's also kind of embarrassing that getting the final level in toilet training also earned me my current level.

Still, this did help me learn how the leveling system of my game life works first hand. I gain a stat point for every 10 skill level increases that happened to skills associated with a particular stat. According to my help menu this caps at 5 stat points per personal level up. This makes focusing more than 50% of my skill leveling on skills associated with a particular stat per personal level up wasted effort. I also get 4 free stat points when I level up that I can use to boost my stats up to that 5 point increase limit. Gaining stat points outside of level ups is rare according to my mental help encyclopedia and limited to rare feats like my current 'Growing Up' feat. This Feat grants me 1 additional stat point in all of my stats on my birthday. My stats are the key to the game system governing my life. They control how much health, chakra, and stamina I have. What I can learn and how I interact with others. My stats also help each other at times so I can't really declare one stat to be innately better than others since I need all of them to live a balanced life.

For anyone who is curious, my stats at the moment are: Strength- 6, Vitality- 7, Intellect- 8, Wisdom- 7, Dexterity- 6, Agility- 6, Charisma- 7, and Luck- 7. They are not the greatest which is why I currently only have Health- 112, Chakra- 112, and Stamina- 112 while I started out when I was born with 100 health, 100 chakra, and 100 stamina. A 12 point increase thanks to a level up sounds great for a starting character. But, then I read more about my personal level and level up system and I found out that I get 10 health, chakra, and stamina points for free with each new level. I suppose it's childish of a 4 year old level 2 character to complain about their paltry level up in terms of pure numbers even though it was massive in terms of percentage compared to my previous level. I my defense, I offer the points that as a 4 year old I am a child and I am well aware that there are dozens of utter monsters out there in this world of mine.

I calmly stand next to my bed watching the other kids frantically trying to make their beds before Miyako came up. I could see a timer in my mind's eye for this quest if I focused on seeing it. As she opened the door Miyako called out, "Time's up." Miyako is a cheerful older woman who's probably in her late forties with a motherly disposition about her. She looked at each bed and either immediately shook her head in disapproval or she pulled out a mon. The mon would be used to test the bed just like I had done earlier and the result of the test earned the kid either a shake or a nod of approval. There were only seven out of the twenty kids in the room whose bed passed the mon test and I was the youngest.

Miyako stood in front of the dormitory room door after she tested the last person's bed and said, "All of you are dressed and your beds have been taken care of so it's time for breakfast. Form a line and follow me to the dining hall." All of us in the room formed the line with rehearsed ease and then followed Miyako to the dining hall. The hall had ten long tables that each could fit twenty kids. Each dorm room had an assigned table that all members of the dorm had to sit at. Each table had a number on it that corresponded to a dormitory room making it clear who sat where.

The cooks brought out breakfast once everyone was seated. Carts were used to pass out trays with everyone's meal on it. I took a look at breakfast and shrugged my shoulders. On my tray was a bowel of pomegranate flavored barley porridge, a double helping of dried dates, some scrambled eggs, and a tall glass of either goat or sheep milk. It's not my favorite meal, but it's not bad either. I got a notice after my meal is finished that my health, chakra, and stamina regeneration have gotten a boost for the next couple of hours thanks to the meal.

I take my tray with my used breakfast dishes over to the area aside for their collection. Then I head to the restroom and wash my hands. After that, I headed to the orphanage's library to find something to read. I soon noticed a new book called An Utter Moron's guide to Carpentry. It's probably not useful to me yet, but I don't see the harm in trying to read the book. I open up the book to the first page and I get a small notice in red. The notice states that I need either 15 Intellect or a person with at least journeymen level carpentry skills to read to me in order for me to learn the carpentry skill. The notice is closed with a blink of an eye and I did give it an honest try at reading the book. However, I couldn't understand everything that was written in the book. There were too many words that I didn't know or that I didn't understood the meaning.

Finally I gave up trying to read An Utter Moron's guide to Carpentry, put it back on the shelf, and grabbed The Children's Atlas of the Elemental Nations. It was a book that I started to read before bedtime last night. I opened the book to where I was last night and continued to read. If I wanted to I could have seen two progress bars in my mind's eye. The one filling up faster was my progress until I finished the book. The slower filling progress bar was for junior geography. It was a tutorial skill that had a feat of giving me the first 10 levels of geography plus a 10 percent increase rate of learning regular novice level geography. Fun fact, I don't just automatically learn something by clicking read a book. I actually have to read the book. Probably a system design choice to remind me that this is a real existence even with my game powers.

My reading ends when the orphanage's bell rings as a reminder for everyone. Younger kids like me need to head to the orphanage's classrooms because school will be starting soon. For the older kids the bell reminds them that they need to hurry if they want to make it to the Shinobi Institute on time for class. I put away the atlas, walked to my classroom, and sat down at my assigned desk. Several other kids also make their way to the classroom, but none of them sit down at their desks. They are creating impromptu games and trying to get in as much fun as possible before the teacher arrives.

Too much of my old adult personality has survived for me to join them in risking trouble like that. My comparative maturity has caused me to stand out from my peers. This thankfully hasn't caused me too many problems. Sometimes the other kids try to tease me, but I just ignore the teasing. The caretakers at the orphanage appreciate that one of the younger kids isn't a constant handful for them. That appreciation is coming into play now as the history teacher walks into the room with a twitch of irritation on his forehead. The teacher looks at the students and firmly says, "Get to your desks now."

Once all of the brats were corralled, it was time for class. I pay attention to the lecture and don't even think of looking at my progress bar in my mind's eye for my junior history skill. If I focus on that progress bar it will stop going up because I'm not paying attention to the teacher who is teaching the skill to me that the progress bar represents. About halfway through the lecture I get two notices that I quickly close with a blink of an eye. The history of the Land of Wind is actually very fascinating since the country was formed from 5 different groups. Two of these groups are each based around one of the two major rivers in the Land of Wind. Two of the groups are pastoral with one in the northern steppe and the other in both the southern desert and the eastern wastelands. Finally, there is a group in the southern edge of country on the seaward side of the Kal-Kaitan Mountains which are in dense woodland. The geography teacher stated that the Kal-Kaitan Mountains and the Southern Talvyen Mountains in the north of the country are why the Land of Wind is mainly so arid.

When the lecture is done we have a 10 minute break as the teachers swap classrooms. I use this time to look up what those notices were by accessing my main menu. This is done by closing my eyes and imagining the window coming up. Accessing the main menu does not pause reality, but it does speed up my perception in the main menu so that I can do more in less time without seeming to space off in the real world. I mentally activate the log and see that the two notices were that I reached level 7 of junior history and that I also advanced to Level 3. Finally, I have been waiting almost 2 years to advance another level.

The journal is closed so that I can access my personal screen from the main menu. In my mind's eye I see an image of myself in my current outfit next to a list which is my inventory. That inventory is frustrating me because it's got a weight limit and currently has an additional restriction which really froths me. Nothing can go in my inventory unless I'm wearing it or it is physically on my person until I reach apprentice rank in fuunjutsu. What's the point of given me an inventory if I can't use most of it? Underneath my image and my inventory is a series of tabs. I click on the tab labeled Stats to open up my personal stats.

There is another notice on the Stats tab showing that I've got a level up. Almost immediately I focus on my current stat increases. They currently stand at Strength + 2, Vitality 0, Intellect +2, Wisdom + 1, Dexterity + 1, Agility +1, Charisma 0, and Luck 0. Damn, I only got 7 out of 10 possible stat points for skill levels. When I get access to the regular skills I'm definitely going to have to plan my leveling out for maximum effect. I put 2 of my free level stat points into Vitality and 1 each into Charisma and Luck. Then I confirm my choices making my new stat line: Strength- 8, Vitality- 9, Intellect- 10, Wisdom- 8, Dexterity- 7, Agility- 7, Charisma- 8, and Luck- 8. This triggers my Health, Chakra, and Stamina level increases bringing them up to Health- 125, Chakra- 125, and Stamina- 124. I close the Stats tab and then close my main menu.

Only a few seconds had passed in the real world by the time I finished leveling up and already almost half of the class was bolting out of their seats. Most of the kids that were still in their seats were talking with other students. No one tried to talk to me since I was the teacher's pet in school. They know I will play with them after school so I don't mind the occasional teasing. I just grab my homework and start working on it during the ten minute break. My partially done homework is then put away when the door opens causing all of the kids to scramble back to their desks.

Just 2 more years, I remind myself as our language teacher who is my least favorite teacher walked in. In two years I'll be able to go to the Shinobi Institute and start climbing my way to completing the task that I came here for.

* * *

Author's Note: HistorianoftheKais here with another story for you all. I wanted to try writing in a different narrative view and this plot bunny hopped in my lap demanding attention. For the fans of Duty and the Springs of Sorrow I have this to say. I'm trying to get the next chapter out, but I'm chipping away at a nasty writer's block on how to properly follow the previous chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

It is finally time for me to join the Shinobi Institute. If I had to spend one more day in that kindergarten like class I would probably do something that would land me in massive trouble. My first life memories tell me that some people were willing to pay 1000 mons to go back to kindergarten for a day. I don't know why anyone in their right mind would so. I'd pay 1000 mons if I had the money for a day out of kindergarten.

What has probably annoyed me the most over these past 8 months is that I've caped out all of my child skills and have only grown to level 4. Even that's annoying as I was only able to get 6 stat points for skill levels when I advanced to level 4. I supposed it's expected when you have to collect every last oddball skill level you can in order to level up. My stats are currently Strength- 11, Vitality- 13, Intellect- 13, Wisdom- 10, Dexterity- 12, Agility- 12, Charisma- 10, and Luck- 10. I've literally gotten more stat points by simply getting older than I have through leveling. Hopefully my stats will be good enough to start the Institute with.

One of the matrons of the orphanage is checking over me and the other new attendees of the Shinobi Institute making sure that we have everything packed properly. An older orphan is waiting for us to finish the final check so that she can lead us to the institute. Finally, the last backpack is checked and we all head off. Part of me wants to rush to the head of the pack next to our guide Sango. I curb this impulse since I know it will just get me into trouble. Instead, I walk along in the middle of the group and use the opportunity to look at Suna.

I don't remember any details about Suna from the Naruto franchise when I last read a Naruto manga roughly a decade ago counting both my first and second life. So whether the writer of the series was accurate of his description of my new hometown is not something I can say for certain. I will say this, the architecture resonates with my first life memories of classical Persian and Moorish, I think that was the correct term, styles. This makes sense as the Eastern Wastelands in which Suna is located is a desert. It's hot like one would expect, but I'm used to it.

Sunagakure is almost perfectly located to be a stronghold in the Eastern Wastelands acting as the Land of Wind's Eastern Gate. The village is nestled within an almost perfect ring of steep mesa that is like a massive natural wall. There are massive farms on the desert side of the mesa thanks to the qanats that the Shodai Kazekage had constructed when Suna was founded. Past these farms is one of the worst parts of the Eastern Wastelands known as the Shinigami's Sands. The only sources of water in a week's caravan journey from Suna are two springs and a well. One of those springs is too salty for people to drink and is next to the salt mines which serve as Suna's biggest civilian export. The good spring and the well are both guarded by Suna ninjas. Throw in frequent sand storms along with a host of very dangerous desert creatures and it becomes obvious why Suna has never been directly attacked by its enemies.

Sango led us past the Great Bazaar and down a street that ran next some of the larger bathhouses. I know that orphanage gives out a couple of passes to one of those bathhouses for the highest ranking students in the orphanage. That's one of the biggest incentives kids at the orphanage have to really work at reaching the top in the Shinobi Institute. From what I've heard the older kids say, a fair number of the students with families like to go to the bathhouses to relax after studying. Shortly thereafter, we finally reached the Shinobi Institute.

The Institute was separated from the street by a 1 story tall brick wall with a gatehouse and several guards manning the gate. Sango pulled out her wallet and showed the guards her student ID. One of the guards glanced at me and the rest of the younger orphans. He then said, "Are all of them with you?"

Sango nodded her head and said, "Everyone is here and accounted for sir." That got a nod of approval from the guard who opened the gate and motioned for us to go in. We all followed Sango in and the gate was closed behind us as soon as we were clear. Sango turned to us and said, "Remember that only authorized personnel are allowed in the Shinobi Institute. We are going to head over the administration building and get all of you fully registered with photo IDs. Once you have them don't even think about losing them. You'll need the IDs in order to enter the Shinobi Institute. Plus, there's a big fine and loss of academic points if you lose them. As the instructors say 'how can we trust you to be shinobi if you can't look after one small card?' Now follow me so we can get those IDs."

I thought about what I had read and heard about the Shinobi Institute as we were lead through Cottontail Hall to have our photos taken and get our ids. The Shinobi Institute is a massive complex of buildings spread over several city blocks and is one of the key nodes of Suna's Shinobi Corps within Sunagakure. It contains the classrooms and texts for all of the academic study needed to become a ninja. That section of the Institute is contained in Scorpion Hall which is one of the larger buildings in the complex. Scorpion Hall is next to Cottontail Hall which is where the administration is located. All other buildings besides these two have guards posted at the entrances. The other halls are completely unadorned save for having their names engraved on the side which are after different desert animals.

What's in those guarded halls? I can't exactly say. I know one of them is supposed to be a general library of jutsus and enemy tactics for full-fledged ninja. Other halls are supposed to be for different types of research like finding new poisons, designing new battle puppets, making or cracking new codes, etc. However, if you have to ask which hall something is done in you are obviously not authorized to know that information.

The IDs were very easy to take care of as they already had the cards prepped and waiting for our photos. Just turn in the registration paperwork to the ninja at the desk, get a ticket from said ninja, briefly wait in line for a quick photo, hand the photo and the ticket to another ninja, and then get your ID card. Trip to the DMV this is not. If my memories of my first life are correct, then the workers at that place would have a heart attack over how efficient things in the Shinobi Institute's administration. Sango also got her photo taken in order to update her id card. She checked to make sure everyone had their ID and had put it away properly before leading us over to Scorpion Hall.

After we got to Scorpion Hall we were lead to the door of an atrium. Sango turned to the group and said, "This is where we part ways munchkins. You need to wait here for a lecture and I need to get to class. See you all when it's time to head back to the orphanage." Most of the other orphans and I nodded our heads to show that we understood Sango of then immediately left.

I and the others entered the atrium and see that there are a couple of kids already waiting in the atrium which was set up for a presentation. While the others wandered off to do their own thing, I went to sit in the center of the seats. It was a great place to listen to whoever was going to speak without being pegged as a nerd. I close my eyes for a second to reflect on my current plan of action. I need to squeeze as much out of this Institute as possible so that I can become a strong ninja. That is critical if I'm to complete my task and help protect everyone from losing their Free Will. This is a world where might often makes right so I need power to change things. At the same time, I need to remember that this is my life. Spending all my time trying to get stronger will burn me out at best or make me have a psychotic breakdown. So I need to focus on classes and yet not let them consume me. That should be something I can manage.

A thought came to me as I was sitting. I learn about new skills by trying to learn them or doing an action repeatedly. I also remember that lots of video games had ways for you to check an opponent's stats or at least get some basic information on them to tell you whether it was advisable to fight them. Perhaps I have something similar? It had been months since I tried to learn an entirely new skill as I had maxed out all of the tutorial skills I could find over the past six years. This was the Shinobi Institute where I'd be learning to be a ninja. It made sense that I'd be able to start accessing the real skills now.

I kept this thought in the back of my mind and I focused my vision on one of the other kids in the room. Every thought I had was focused on trying to find out more about this unknown kid. After a few seconds of focusing I got a pop up and I eagerly read it hoping that it had some information on my fellow student. The message stated: 'Dormant kekkei genkai does not match requirements. You must acquire and equip an eye containing the Eagle Vision dojutsu to learn the observe skill'.

Well that was a mixed blessing for me. On the one hand I need a particular dojutsu in order to use a fairly common game skill. I suppose it makes sense given the setting of my second life even if it is frustrating. On the other hand I just found out that I do have a kekkei genkai of some sort. I close my eyes and bring up my main menu trying to find any hint on any screen that I have a kekkei genkai. Finally I found a Feat listed as Dormant Kekkei Genkai. When I read the description it said: 'unknown kekkei genkai possessed by this person. Activation method is unknown. When activated it creates the ? skill.'

This must be another tool that the big guy arranged for me to have so I could complete my mission here. I close the main menu and think about what I found. It would be great if I unlock that kekkei genkai since that will give me access to skills that few probably know how to handle. It would also be a great advertising advantage for Suna which would bring in more money. I think that money issues of some sort were behind Suna attacking Konoha in the Naruto series, but I haven't seen or heard any signs of financial issues for us so far. But, if I don't know anything about my kekkei genkai than I don't know how to activate it which means I've got to wait for it to kick in like a stupid deus ex machina. Hopefully, I won't figure out how to use it when it's the only thing that will save my ass. That would mean that I totally failed at my training.

* * *

My musing is put on hold when I heard the door of the atrium open. I turned my head to see a jonin walk up to the podium. This must be some sort of start of the year speech so I need to give him my undivided attention.

The jonin got the podium and yelled, "Attention! I want all of you in those chairs on the double. Anyone who is not seated by the count of 5 will be getting a demerit on their record. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5! You, you, you three over there, and you ma'am in the back, I want all of you to promptly come up here in front of me on the double. If you take too long you'll get an extra demerit!" He pointed to each and every slowpoke that wasn't in their chair by the count of five. I watched as 2 of the kids came up while the other 4 were hesitant about what to do. This couldn't end well for them.

Just like I thought, the jonin wasn't pleased at this and said, "That's another demerit for you 4 lollygaggers. That brings you up to 2 demerits. I'm not sure if you were told, but the Institute has a policy that any student who earns more than 4 demerits in a 30 day period will get ten lashes in the courtyard. You four are halfway there. Now, you have until the count of 3 to get up here or you will get your third demerit. 1, 2," All 4 of the remaining students flew down the atrium before the jonin could say 3.

We all silently watched as the jonin looked at each student's ID card and made some notes on a clipboard that was kept in the podium. No doubt he was writing down who had how many demerits. Once that was done, the jonin dismissed the trouble makers so they could sit down. He firmly bellowed out, "Each and every one of you worthless snot nosed brats is here because you or a family member has somehow gotten the crazy idea that you are fit to be in the Suna Shinobi Corps. I'm here today to tell you that such an idea is as pathetic as day old camel crap."

Great, it figures with my luck that Suna's idea of being an academy student is something straight out of the Marines. Looks like I'm going to have to tough it out as they break us down and build us back up again. A quick glance around me shows that almost everyone is shocked at what they are hearing. Some of the fancier dressed kids, who are no doubt from well off clans, seem to be having trouble understanding the words they are hearing. Several kids are starting to tear up on the verge of crying. Those ones are probably not going to last a month.

The jonin barks out, "Silence! You maggots will remain silent when your superiors are talking. Suna's Shinobi Corps is an elite organization and the first line of defense the Land of Wind has. Quality is the foremost virtue of a Suna Shinobi. We can hide in plain sight like a horned lizard on a rock, rapidly strike like a cobra catching its prey, and unleash a fury like a sandstorm on our enemies. There are many more abilities that are expected of a Suna Shinobi, but mentioning them all would probably fry the few brain cells you all collectively have."

"Simple fact of the matter is, the majority of you brats here today will not become genin six years from now. We wouldn't want to disgrace the Corps with fools who just can't hack it as ninjas. I'll personally consider it to be a good haul if we can get a dozen shinobis out you sorry lot. The other instructors and I will be spending the next six years separating the wannabes from the potentials. You will have full textbook classes from 9 am to 5 pm Tuesday and Thursday every week. For the first 3 years of the training program Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are half classroom session and half physical training. Should you make it far enough, you will find Monday, Wednesday, and Friday given wholly over physical training in the final three years of the shinobi training program. On Saturdays we will be giving optional lectures for those who want to pursue certain specialties."

"There will be no time to goof off in class children. Every lesson being taught could help to save your life. Study hard in the classroom and sweat profusely in the training yard. There is a saying that has been passed down among Suna Shinobi from the Shodai Kazekage himself that is held almost as holy writ: The more you endure in training the less you bleed in battle. We will push you to the limits of your mind and body. Once you're there we will then push you past those pathetic limits. Family means nothing inside the Shinobi Corps. You are not your ancestors so don't expect any slack for that. That kind of attitude will get you killed as your enemies target you for the bragging rights of slaying a member of a famous clan. Look at the Senju over in Konoha; they have two famous clan members and the clan's almost extinct thanks to everyone wanting to brag about how they killed a Senju."

"If at any time you wake up and realize you were never meant to be a shinobi we have a very simple solution to the problem. You walk down to the discharge room on the third floor of Cottontail Hall, Fill out Form 1225, and turn over your shinobi supplies. Those who fill out the Form 1225 are never allowed to reenlist in the Shinobi Corps. No shinobi worth their salt is going to want a pathetic quitter serving alongside them."

"Now, that's the end of this presentation so let's get to the business of removing the wannabes. Classroom student lists have been posted just outside the door of the atrium. Find your name on the list and go to the listed room. All classes for you are on the same floor and there is a second list on the door of each classroom in case you forgot where you're supposed to be going. Now, students dismissed."

* * *

It wasn't that hard for me to find my classroom in large part because they were written in Samyetic instead of Otsutsuki or Court Language as the language is commonly referred to these days. Unlike the Naruto franchise where the Elemental Countries seemed very small, they are actually very big. For example, the Land of Wind is somewhere between the size of Turkey and Iran back on Earth. I can't say for sure between the two as I honestly can't remember their precise sizes. Also, I'm not 100 percent certain about the conversion rates between Metric and the Royal Wind system. The Elemental Countries as a whole are roughly around the size of Europe. Thanks to chakra, the average person has a much faster marching and running speed so places are relatively closer together than they were in preindustrial Earth. For example, an average ninja can cover the same distance in a little less than a day's march that a caravan does over a week.

With the large areas of land, there are naturally numerous languages and dialects in use. There also isn't any sort of national language or really much nationalism at all here. This makes sense as the current major countries have only come about in the past half century or so in response to the Hidden Villages. Otsutsuki is the language used by the nobles, the monks, and some merchants who deal in international trade. It sounds similar to Japanese, uses a kanji like writing system, and basically fulfills the function of Latin back in Medieval Europe. The people of Suna speak and write Samyetic as their mother tongue because Reto the Shodai Kazekage and his initial followers were all from the Samyet tribes that live in the Southern Desert. Samyet uses an alphabet and it is a hell lot easier to remember the 29 letters of Samyetic than it is to remember the 3600 plus kanji of Otsutsuki! What's worse is the fact that they've been teaching us Otsutsuki in the orphanage for years since it's practically a requirement for a ninja to at least speak Otsutsuki. That's why I hate my damn language classes.

I put those thoughts to the side and refocused my thoughts on the fact that I had an unknown kekkei genkai. It was quickly apparent after the initial rush of excitement from this fact that my kekkei genkai was going to be a headache for me. From what I remember of Naruto, kekkei genkai tended to have a major impact on a possessor's fighting style. This also seems to be true based on what I've overheard from the caretakers and the older orphans who have joined the Shinobi Institute. There is a great amount of sense as it will be difficult for many enemies to adapt to a fighting style that only a few people can use.

Unfortunately for me, kekkei genkai holders usually have clans with jutsus crafted to make use of the kekkei genkai. They also know what their kekkei genkai is and so can focus their training to make maximum use of it. I don't have anything like that and if it wasn't for my gamer ability I wouldn't know about my kekkei genkai period. That means I can't try to optimize my leveling to make maximum use of my kekkei genkai. It wouldn't be good if my kekkei genkai turned out to be for a skill set I neglected. Fuck, if I'm going do this so my kekkei genkai doesn't become a proverbial white elephant I'm going to have to master everything they teach here to the max. I hope I like my various ninja lessons because they now own my free time.

It won't be all bad for me. I'll still have one day a week to rest and have fun. If I do learn everything they teach at the Academy I will be stronger and a higher level than if I had just focused on a few subjects. That will make it easier to accomplish my goal of preserving free will. I also have two facts that are going to help me in this self-appointed quest to learn everything I can at the Shinobi Institute. The first is that all of my 'tutorial' skills have given me the first 10 levels of the academic classes and a 10 percent increase in leveling speed for Novice levels. Some previous digging in my mental encyclopedia has revealed that I'm considered to be a Novice in a skill when my level is 1 to 249. That means that I'm going to learn the next 239 levels of my academic skills 10 percent faster than I otherwise would.

I also found out about another feat that I just got when I was looking for information on my kekkei genkai. That feat is the Shinobi Institute Student feat which is extremely powerful. It gives me a 10 percent increase in leveling speed for novice levels of all subjects taught at the Institute while I am a student. But, this feat also gives me an additional 10 percent increase in leveling speed when an Institute instructor is actively teaching a course to me. I'm going to be here for the next six years so this feat is going to be sticking around for a while.

With my mind made up, I decided to look around and observe my fellow students. Many of them looked nervous from the presentation we had a few minutes ago. Many of them were standing around looking confused and I couldn't really blame them since there were no chairs. Instead, there were 30 or so person sized carpets lying on the floor with a small platform that also had its own carpet. Several other students and I had each claimed one of the carpets on the floor and were sitting down on them. There were 30 student names on the door and 30 person sized carpets so the carpets were probably meant for us.

The door opened again and this time an adult entered the room. She looked about 20 something years old and was wearing a jacket. I don't know enough yet to tell whether it was a chunin jacket or a jonin jacket. Everyone watched as the lady walked over the platform, got on it, and turned to look at all of us. "Alright students," the lady said in a crisp voice the permitted no questioning. "Everyone standing is to find an empty relaxation mat and sit down."

One nervous kid collected her courage and asked, "Why don't we have chairs?"

That was not a smart move as the teacher turned to give the poor girl a withering glare. Our teacher then said in an icy manner. "The Shodai Kazekage himself taught at the Shinobi Institute when it was first opened up using relaxation mats for his students to sit as he imparted his wisdom to them. His students were some of the legends among Suna Shinobi. Relaxation mats were good enough for them and they are more than good enough for a snot nosed brat like you. Complain about them again and every instructor you get will have you kneeling on the hard floor instead."

I quickly glanced at the girl who asked the question and saw that she was on the verge of crying. Questioning a military institution's traditions, especially one dating back to its founding, is not a good move to start your career on. My gaze lasts on her for no more than a second before I return it to the professor. Focus on her and what she's trying to teach you instead of the girl who probably isn't going to last a month here.

The instructor then said, "This is History 101 and I am your instructor. You will address me as Ma'am like you should all superior female officers. Do not ask for my name or the name of my fellow instructors. We will only give our names out at the start of the 2 semester. There is no reason for worthless trash to know who teaches what at the Shinobi Institute. An enemy shinobi could easily pull the information out of them leaving everyone in danger because of dropouts."

"With the introductions out of the way it is time to get started on our lessons." The teacher paused for a second scanning the room for a moment and I saw her eyes rest on me. She pointed to me and said, "You tell me why the Clan Tarkaan of Calor Oasis is important to Sunagakure's history."

After thinking for a second, I remembered the reason and said, "Clan Tarkaan of Calor Oasis was the clan of the Tisroc tribe that the Shodai Kazekage came from."

The teacher nodded her head and said, "Your fellow student is correct. Lord Reto son of Shasta son of Ram of Clan Tarkaan from Sunagakure originally had his clan known as Clan Tarkaan of Calor Oasis. This was before his famous duel with Ahoshta for the hand of Aravis. After that duel, Reto and Aravis were forced into exile due to Ahoshta's connections in the Tisroc tribe. Reto's father Shasta gave the young couple 40 days' worth of rations and copies of jutsu scrolls for Reto to continue his studies with." From there on we were treated with an hour long lecture on the trials of Reto and how he founded Sunagakure.

It's actually a very interesting and long tale about how someone rose from basically nothing to being one of the most powerful people of his time. Reto's fight with Ahoshta happened when Reto was only 14 while Ahoshta was 39 and a very famous ninja for his day before Reto turned him into a blind eunuch. A fitting way to end the fight when you consider the fact that the fight was on Aravis's 13th birthday and her wedding was that night. Cultural sensitivity be damned, a man that old has no business getting married to a girl that young. If Ahoshta really was desperate for a bride he could have easily married a young widow or he could have gotten married sooner to someone more age appropriate.

Sorry, I got a little carried away as that part of the tale always froths me. Most teens would have perished after being stripped of all wealth and power, but not Reto and Aravis. They headed north past the Tisroc's lands and wandered for years as merchants and mercenaries. Reto slowly built up a following of fellow exiles, outcasts, and orphans sharing the knowledge he had and learning what he could. The other clans and tribes forced his growing band into the Eastern Wastelands hoping for the desert to kill them all. However, Reto had learned through his travels of an old abandoned hermitage hidden in the Eastern Wastelands and decided to search for it while using knowledge of desert survival to keep his band alive. That hermitage was in one of small caves in the mesa surrounding Suna and it belonged to one of the disciples of the Great Sage Asura Otsutsuki.

The long dead hermit had studied chakra extensively and is supposed to have focused on the earth and the wind. He wrote several tablets about his discoveries that were preserved in his hermitage. The original tablets are kept under lock and key somewhere in Reto's Redoubt which itself is the only structure standing on the mesa surrounding Suna. Copies of those tablets can only be read by chunin or higher ranked shinobis. Thanks to those tablets, Reto and the first Suna shinobi became strong enough to push back against the clans and tribes that had exiled them. Reto was very cunning and was able to absorb his defeated enemies into Suna and was at times able to convince others to join Suna for its relative safety.

Our instructor finished her lecture by mentioning the letter sent by the Nomarch of the Upper Green River to Reto. She gave us all a hard glare and said, "In two days I will tell you about the meeting of the then future Shodai Kazekage and Shodai Wind Daimyo which formed the basis for the creation of the Land of Wind. I want all of you to read the first chapter of the history book before my next lecture. It is only 7 pages long so only the most incompetent among you will be unable to do this assignment. Now, your next instructor will be in here in 10 minutes. Behave until they get here or you will get a demerit."

The instructor left us alone and the room became stone silent. I just closed my eyes and pulled up my main menu. I checked my skills and saw that, just like I expected, I now possessed the History skill which was at level 10 with some progress to the next level. I then closed the main menu to think about my lesson. Our instructor was trying to force us to either quit or decided to do better just to show her that we were better than she claimed to think. I recall reading about it as a motivational tactic once during my first life and I didn't particularly care for it then. I certainly don't care for it now. However, I will admit that our teacher was through and made sure to teach everything clearly so everyone could understand. I may not like this method of training, but I won't deny that our instructors are probably going to try their hardest to teach us. Now all I have to do is survive the initial dropout phase and hope that they relax once they know we aren't just going to quit.


	3. Chapter 3

Things did not ease up for anyone at the Shinobi Institute after the first day, or week, or month, or even the first damn semester. We did get our instructors' names at the start of the 2nd semester of the year so there was that at least. The training was constant and intense. Everyone had to deal with large amounts of homework for preteens and tons of physical exercises of all sorts. Many kids found that they either couldn't or wouldn't keep up with the high expectations and left the Institute as civilians. Classroom seating had to be reorganized 3 times in my first semester due to dropouts.

The nurses and doctor at the Shinobi Institute who were constantly at hand to take care of any student who got injured were a near constant presence. Mostly the staff insured that a student would be able to continue their lessons by having the senior students who were learning first aid take care of the younger years. However, we all got full checkup every semester and a round of vaccinations at the start of the 2 semester. They were also on hand to take care of serious injuries like broken bones or serious cuts. I can think of many things where Earth is superior then the Elemental Countries, but medicine is not one of them. A decent nurse can heal a multi-fraction bone to full health in a few hours if they can dedicate the time to just one person.

It's a good thing that the medicine around here is so good because life is far more brutal in the Elemental Counties than I remember them being back on Earth. The jonin who gave us our introductory speech was not joking about the demerits and the punishment that would occur if you got more than 4 demerits in 30 days. I never had it happen to myself as I made sure to keep my nose clean. However, if someone in our year earned their lashes we all were made to stand and watch the punishment. The instructors said it was to reinforce why we should not misbehave for all of us.

The first time we were called out to watch corporal punishment is seared into my brain. It was the 3rd day at the institute at 11:30 am. Classes were put on hold and everyone was brought outside on an exceptionally hot day. I was standing in the second row and so had a good view of what happened. Man do I wish that I had found a way to head to the back to get the sight out of my brain. 3 kunoichis were dragging a frightened girl towards the front. The lead kunoichi broke off from the other two who adjusted were holding the girl by the arms. There was a blur for a split second by the lead kunoichi's throat which I assume was her creating a hand sign.

The lead kunoichi stepped to the side so that the student was visible to everyone and then she spoke. "You are all gathered here today to observe one of your fellow students being punished for gross misbehavior. The worm you see before you has just earned 5 demerits for speaking ill of another student's clan in regards to her own clan's standing. No Suna shinobi would dare to even think poorly on a fellow shinobi because of their clan or the clan's social standing. All that matters is whether or not someone is a part of the Suna Shinobi Corps. Your family outside of your brothers and sisters in the Shinobi Corps is mere trivial details. Suna shinobi all live for the Shinobi Corps and the Shinobi Corps lives for all Suna shinobi!"

She then glared at the girl and said "Inductee Yagami, for earning 5 demerits or more demerits in 30 days you have been sentenced to receive 10 lashes. Punishment shall commence momentarily." The lead kunoichi walked over to Inductee Yagami and ripped her shirt off. Her companion kunoichis held the girl's arms so that she couldn't cover herself as the lead kunoichi threw the torn shirt on the ground and slowly walked over to a table that had a spread of nasty looking whips menacingly laid out. I noticed that the kunoichi seemed to be glancing at something as she walked the line of whips. A quick check revealed that she was looking at the doctor who was standing partially out of sight and providing discreet input on the weapon selection.

Finally, the most benign whip out of the lot was selected and the lead kunoichi walked over to the poor inductee. She gave the whip a test lash in the air and then called out the number as she let that whip fly across the girl's back. Let me tell you, the look of pain and horror on the inductee's face from that first lash as she screamed out in agony is burned into my memory. There was a pause before the 2nd lash happened and this continued. I soon realized that the breaks in between the lashes were due to the kunoichi glancing over to the doctor who was keeping an eye on the inductee.

The tenth lash did not come soon enough for me or any of my fellow inductees while Inductee Yagami reduced to a mess of sobs and anguish. However, this wasn't the end of the punishment as the two kunoichis holding the poor initiate turned her around to show everyone the bleeding mess on her back. It was not a pretty sight by any imagination and it made my stomach queasy. At least two kids standing behind me lost their breakfasts from what my ears could hear. The kunoichis waited a few moments to make sure that we all got a good look at the girl's bloody back before they carried her off straight to where the doctor was hiding.

I remember that the lead kunoichi quickly focused everyone's attention on herself so that others wouldn't notice where the punished student was being led. "With the punishment received, the matter regarding Inductee Yagami's failures is closed and her demerit count has been reset to zero. You all should take two things away from this incident today. The first and most important item to learn is that one never disrespects one's comrades. On a mission or in battle your fellow Suna shinobi are the only people you can trust to watch your back and insure you stay alive."

"Second, you should learn that failure in this world leads to pain. Sometimes this pain is minor like the disappointment one feels when they don't do as well on a test like they thought they would. Sometimes the pain is serious like what Inductee Yagami felt. I have seen comrades lose limbs and even be tortured because they failed against an enemy in combat. Sometimes, the pain of failure can be final in the form of death."

She paused for a second and then said, "Do not think for even a moment that any of your teachers wish you pain worms. The purpose of the Shinobi Institute is ultimately about preventing pain from failure for its inductees by giving them the tools needed to succeed as shinobi. Remember: the more you endure in training the less you bleed in battle. Bleeding is very painful as you just saw."

* * *

About 40 percent of the students dropped out the next day because of what they saw from the disciplinary show triggering the first classroom reorganization. I will not lie, I seriously thought about dropping out myself. This wasn't some shonen manga where the hero always wins or some video game where one can save and redo a mistake. This is real life with struggles, suffering, death, and I was going into a profession that dealt those out to others for money. Moreover, I know that something is going to happen in the future that will try to take away everyone's free will making everyone into nothing more than a puppet.

I'm just an orphan from an unimportant clan. What could I hope to do to stop the looming threat? Hell, what assurance do I have as a shinobi that I'll even be alive at the time the threat comes? It's rather hard to help stop Armageddon when you're dead. Wouldn't it be better for me to just drop out of the Shinobi classes, get an apprenticeship in the village, and just enjoy what time I do have in this life?

Those thoughts were slowly strangled as I thought about them all that afternoon and evening. Free Will is something worth fighting for and it's not like I'm supposed to save the world. That's not my cross to bear. If anything, I'm like that Simon of Cyrene or was it Cyprus figure. I'm here to help the Chosen One complete their task in saving the world. I must be strong in order to carry out my task and being strong in this world means becoming a powerful shinobi.

Besides, things are not as bad as my sensibilities from my first life want to say they are. Everyone was warned about the punishment beforehand and in Inductee Yagami's case, we were told that family ties meant nothing in the shinobi corps. During the punishment, a doctor was on site to monitor things and did treat the student being punished after the whipping was over. She'll almost certainly have no scars on her back in a few days unless she opts to leave them there as a reminder. Such punishments as Inductee Yagami got are seen as barbaric from the western society that my first like almost certainly came from. However, my first life memories also remind me that this changed legally only in like the past century or so in western society and that several countries on Earth still allowed it when I died the first time.

Should I be afraid because I can accept something like this as a part of life? I don't know and part of me doesn't want to know. In my mind I can recall hazy memories of something called cultural assimilation, but I don't think that applies in this situation. Whoever I was in my first life is not who I am in this life. I can't even remember my prior incarnation's name or where exactly he came from. Hell, I can't even remember whether I was a girl or a boy in my last lifetime. Most of what I have of my first life are facts like I was given a book titled 'History of Earth' in the womb and spent all my time reading it. There are some brief memories of news stories and events where I can feel emotions tied to them.

I suppose there was one good thing about Inductee Yagami's punishment for me. It forced me to truly confront who I was and why I was in this world. I am Domon son of Bakin son of Ichiro of Clan Kamiya from Sunagakure who was born with special abilities thanks to a deity who tasked me to help someone save the world. These abilities include being able to interact with the world in a way similar to a video game, knowledge of a world to strive to bring this world towards, and a guide to how future events might play out. Thanks to these gifts and insights I can think beyond my years and better prepare myself for what must come.

This reinforced resolve was applied throughout the year catapulting me to the head of the class. My gamer abilities were an absolute godsend for me besides the fact that they were given to me by a deity. My health, chakra, and stamina all recovered using the same basic formula: 0.2 times a specific stat plus my max amount of health/chakra/stamina divided by 100 every minute. This is without the regeneration rate being improved with a good meal with the increase depending on what I ate and how long ago I ate it. That means that in less than 2 hours I am fully healed up and ready to go.

However, this system isn't a completely broken in terms of my recovery of these mechanics. First, I still suffer from mental fatigue. Tried staying up all night once and I'm not going to do that again if I can avoid it. I was wide awake and perfectly healthy, but my mental reasoning abilities might as well have been that of a brain dead rat. Second, I discovered that my game system has a not so fun mechanic known Malaises which are penalties that negatively affect me. An example of this is I once forgot to eat all day and gained the Malaise of Famished which cut into my regen rates. Malaises like that are easy to treat, but there are ones that require professional help to get rid of. Broken bones come to mind as a perfect example. I read the penalties brought on by a broken arm before the doctor could heal me and it was very serious. It was also painful. Yep, I can still feel pain even with the game system which is sort of good as a way to escape genjutsu.

I am still easily able to take and keep the academic lead even with the limitations on my gamer abilities. My studies were conducted with my leveling mechanics in mind. I didn't always gain 10 skill derived stat boosts with every level up. Personal interests, test schedules, and sometimes just failing to remember each skill's associated stat at times lead to a less than optimal result on some level ups. Still, I never got less than 8 skill derived stat boosts as I grew from level 4 to level 9 over the first year at the Shinobi Institute. My studies are deliberately kept general by the instructors since there are things that every shinobi needs to know. This suits me and my planned growth until I figure out what kekkei genkai I have.

Now one might think that having a no name orphan ranking 1st for my year would not sit well with many people. The Elemental Countries are all feudal clan-based societies and those types of societies tend to be very status conscious. Even being under the protection of a major noble like the Kazekage isn't much protection if you're stepping on that many toes without being high up yourself. This answer would be correct if we weren't in the Shinobi Corps. When it comes to civilians then status matters, but inside the Shinobi Corps things are meritocratic. Your rank is what you have earned for yourself and if you don't like that rank then should work harder. Not that ranking 1st for year 1 inductees really mattered. As one instructor so elegantly put it: The order of important in the Institute from greatest to least goes the Headmaster, the teachers, any visiting genin, the janitor, the janitor's pet camel, the camel's crap, and then the inductees.

Now that I think about it, it was actually kind of funny when the science teacher told us all that little fact. It was right at the start of the 2nd semester and we had just gotten Instructor Morisato's name. Many in the class including myself thought we had made it through the harsh treatment of the instructors by proving we weren't going to just quit. Instructor Morisato told us that to burst our bubbles. What makes everything so funny was his response to the class clown over why the camel's crap rated as more important than all of us. Instructor Morisato stated without missing a beat that they could at least sell the crap as fertilizer now, we wouldn't have marketable skills for 5 more years.

* * *

There was a 1 month break between the school years. This time the start of the new semester happened on Monday instead of on Tuesday like it did on both semesters for my first year. I went by myself to Cottontail Hall and got my photo ID updated. Then I headed over to Scorpion Hall so I could find out where my classroom was. Afterwards, I checked to see which basement room I would need to head to for my physical training. With this in mind I headed over to my classroom and found a relaxation mat to sit on.

I was the first person in the classroom, but I was quickly not the only person in the room. I turned my head when I heard the door open and saw a girl my age with sandy blond hair done up in 4 pigtails. This tickles my memory for some reason, but I can't recall why. The girl looks around the room and seems to raise an eyebrow when her gaze rests on me. I say seems to because I can't clearly see her eyebrows at this distance. The girl starts walking and is soon seated on a relaxation mat next to me.

Once she was seated I gave a polite head nod and said, "Good morning. My name is Domon." I wasn't particularly friendly last year and I want to change that this year. Not that I was mean or anything, but I didn't try to make friends at the Institute. What's the point when your friend could drop out tomorrow?

The girl blinked her eyes in surprise and then spoke. "Nice to meet you, my name is Temari."

That name was very familiar to me, but I still couldn't place who she was. Did I hear it last year in class? I don't think so since I'm fairly certain we never had classes together. Maybe it was during lunch when everyone was on break? That's possible, but my gut is telling me that I heard that name before I came to the Shinobi Institute. If it's from my first incarnation reading the Naruto manga then I'm out of luck. That series was focused around Konoha with only a few secondary characters from each of the other villages. You try to recall a secondary character from a book series you read from over a decade ago. It isn't easy at all.

There was silence for a moment between us before Temari spoke again. "Can I ask you a question?"

I turned to look at her and said, "Sure." Hey, maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to make a friend.

Temari waited for a second as she gathered her thoughts. "How were you able to just keep going last year with all the coursework? Some of my friends who were in your class last year talked about how you never collapsed after any of the physical training, always seemed to find a breath of fresh air, and how you kept acing the homework we're stuck with."

With a smile I said, "I paced myself. We've got 6, well 5, years to learn how to be shinobi. Take PE last year for example. We all know that the teachers set up multiple exercises for us to do and that our time grade for the class is when we complete the last event. I ran the first part of the exercise course, but I didn't try to be the fastest one on the track. Most of the others did and they ended up too tired to do the climbing wall and then cross the jungle gym. I still got to the climbing wall before a fair amount of students and was able to quickly climb it since I wasn't as tired." It also helped that I could keep track of how much stamina I had left thanks to my stamina bar.

My companion nodded her head accepting my answer before replying. "That makes sense. I'm guessing you did something similar when it came to homework?"

"Correct Temari, I studied each subject until I started to feel distracted and then I switched to another subject I had to do." That's a slight fib on my part. Most of the homework either interests me or is very easy to do thanks to my first life's knowledge. Language Arts is the only real exception that I have to force myself to study. Seriously, who the hell thought to themselves: let's create thousands of different pictures to represent words it will be easy? I hate Otsutsuki and its damn logograms which have to be written bottom to top. Why can't it be written left to right like every other language? Couldn't I have had that bone when it comes to that stuck up language?

Sorry for the rant, but that course is a real pain in my neck. The real reason I varied what I did for homework at different times was to try and balance my skill leveling. Doing homework increases my skill with that subject. It makes perfect sense when you think about it since I'm learning about and practicing a skill when I'm doing homework. If doing my sewing work before I do my math homework will insure I get a skill related stat boost on the next level up then that's what I'm doing. Yes, we were taught to sew as part of our craft lessons. A shinobi never knows when they'll have to field repair their clothes, fashion a disguise, or use sutures to close up a wound.

Temari accepted my answer and then replied, "I do something similar with my homework using a schedule. Do you have one as well?"

I shook my head and said, "No, I usually jump between what seems interesting with my remaining homework unless there are time limits on homework. Which class did you find frustrating to deal with last year?"

That question seemed to surprise Temari and she gave me a strange look. She then inquired, "Why do you want to know?"

"I was trying to have a friendly conversation and the question popped into my head. I'll go first. I found Language class to the most annoying. Reading Court Language very difficult for me." Did I ask her something too personal? I'm not really the most sociable of kids as it's hard for other kids in the orphanage to relate to me.

Something seemed to be bothering Temari with what I asked. I was about to tell her to forget it when Temari whispered out, "Crafts." There was a faint blush on her cheeks as she spoke a bit louder so I could hear clearly. "I can't sew at all."

It's surprising that she had the courage to admit that fact to me. As a seven year old I don't have enough information to make a complete comparison, but there seems to be a greater emphasis on traditional gender roles here in Suna then there probably was in whichever western country my first life lived in. Chakra both blurs and sharpens the gender divides as they developed on Earth. A girl with minimal training in chakra usage could trounce boys back on Earth in terms of physical abilities. This minimal training is easily achievable by any civilian so Earth's argument of physical strength dictating labor division doesn't fly in the Elemental Countries. On the other hand, boys' and girls' bodies handle chakra differently. I don't know all of the specifics yet as it hasn't come up in class yet. The generic answer for kids at my age level is that boys have more chakra while girls have better control over their chakra.

One thing I do know is that girls here have a strong drive to be feminine from what I can see. Social pressure seems to play some role, but not a massive one from what I can tell. I mean, I could be completely wrong here since I'm not the most observant guy outside of my shinobi studies. Certain aspects of the shinobi life are more traditionally masculine and the girls in class seem to compensate for that by putting even more emphasis on the more feminine studies like the Crafts class. A girl admitting what Temari just did would be as bad as a boy admitting he sucked at taijutsu or ninjutsu.

I didn't want to make Temari uncomfortable so I asked, "How are you at Language class?"

Temari gave me a surprised look and replied, "I get by well enough."

I gave her a smile and said, "Good. I only got my good grades in Language class because I refuse to let any lesson get the better of me. It still takes me way too long to get the lessons down alone and perhaps a study partner would help. What do you say? You help me with Language class while I help you with Crafts class?"

There is a thoughtful look on Temari's face as she mulls over the idea. I really hope she accepts the offer since it would be nice to have a friend. I don't care that she's a girl like most boys my age would. Besides, having someone help me with Language class would be great.

Temari nodded her head and said, "Sounds good. Would study time after class be good?" Scorpion Hall is kept open 3 hours after the last class is over so that Inductees can have a place to practice their ninja skills. Most clans don't own enough land to have their own private training ground inside of Suna while only genins and higher ranked ninjas are allowed on the training fields. Most of our independent training as inductees is done in the underground gyms.

I nodded my head as the classroom door opened again, "Agreed Temari."

* * *

It wasn't until later in the week that I learned just who my new friend and study buddy really was. This realization happened when one of the teachers called on Temari daughter of Lord Rasa to answer a question in history class and my friend Temari answered it. Boy did it throw me for a loop to realize that I had accidentally become friends with a character from the Naruto series. I now have a rough idea of when in time I am in relation to the story from the first life's memories provided that her age in the series didn't undergo artistic license changes. Some might wonder how I didn't realize that my friend is the daughter of the reigning Kazekage. In my defense, the teachers typically only address us by first name. We were using shortened formal names that day in class to help us learn to speak around nobles who care for such things.

Temari's identity wasn't the only shocking thing I had learned this week. Our teachers can look at and talk to us like we are more than dried dung sticking to the bottom of their sandals. It turns out that the jerk mode all of them were on in the 1st year is a test of our ability to put up with difficult people and to see if we have the mental fortitude to deal with adversity. This was explained to all of us after some students tried to cancel a genjutsu when the teacher treated us like human beings. We also learned that part of the reason for the rough treatment in the 1st year is to encourage those who aren't serious about being shinobi to get out of the program.

Currently, I am in one of the study alcoves in the library with my backpack waiting on Temari to show up for our study session. This will be our third study session and the first after I learned of her identity. I hope she shows up. We haven't had the chance to talk to each other since history class today when I learned that little fact about her.

The sound of someone lightly walking nearby came to my ear and I looked up to see Temari nervously walking into the alcove. I stood up so that I was more visible which caused her to nervously stop in her tracks. Trying to put her at ease, I spoke up. "I was getting worried that something had delayed you Temari. You ready for our study session? It's Crafts first since we did Language first last time."

Praise the lord; I actually seem to have caused her to relax a bit. I was getting a little nervous because Charisma and Luck are my two lowest stats at the moment and I'm pretty sure they're the stats I need in this situation. I'm trying to keep my stats relatively balanced, but so few of my skills are associated with those stats. Between the two I'll usually boost Charisma as I don't like the idea of depending on luck.

Crafts class had recently introduced us to darning for repairing holes or worn areas in fabric. This was a nightmare for Temari since she still didn't have a good grasp of a double running stitch which we were currently practicing. I took another look at her fabric scraps and nearly winced. It looked like she had two running stitches that ran close together. The spacing of the holes that the stitch wove between also wasn't consistent. Temari also seemed to getting annoyed at her poor work which was making everything sloppier.

I put my own practice scraps down on the table which caused Temari to stop sewing. I looked at her and saw the frustration and I think a hint of nervousness in her eyes. An idea hit me and I spoke up. "We need to approach this from a different way Temari."

Temari spoke up, "What do you mean Domon?"

While holding her practice scraps I said, "Just giving you extra practice isn't working out like we want it to Temari. We need to get creative and find a way to help you out here and I have an idea." I let go of the practice scraps, went to my backpack, and started to rummage around for a ruler. It didn't take me long to retrieve my ruler and I set it down on table along with two new practice scraps.

A glance to Temari showed that she didn't seem to have a clue what I was thinking of doing. I put the scraps together like I was going to sew them and placed the ruler on them. Then I got out a pencil and marked the top fabric piece with evenly spaced dots. After that, I pulled out some sewing needles and put them in the fabric to hold the two pieces together. With the pieces held together I then flipped the fabric and put the dots on the same spot with the ruler. I then handed the two scraps to Temari saying, "Try sewing this by threading the needle on the dots."

Temari carefully took the scraps from me and nervously pushed her needle through the first dot. She then turned the scraps over to pull the thread through. The nervousness slowly left her face and then a smile formed on her lips. Soon enough, Temari had completed double running stitch that looked like it was supposed to look and she held it up for me to see.

I gave her a smile and instantly closed a notification popup with an eye blink. A review of my main menu log revealed that the popup was notifying me that I had created the Mentor skill. The fact that I had gained a new skill wasn't what was important about that moment. What was important was the fact that this moment is when I can begin to call myself Temari's friend.


	4. Chapter 4

Time flies by faster than you realize at times. Before I realized it I was in my 6th and final year at the Shinobi Institute. Ever since I got Temari as a friend my routine at the Institute has basically been the same. Sadly, I haven't been able to make any more friends. There are many friendly acquaintances, but the other students seemed frightened of the Power Team of the Kazekage's daughter and the continuous First Inductee of the Year. Seems kind of stupid to me since we're all going to be comrades once we leave the Shinobi Institute and being top in the Institute really doesn't mean much.

I mean, I've estimated that I'm about 10 to 15 levels higher than everyone in the field a student specializes in and effectively a few more levels higher overall. This is based on what I've observed in my spars by comparing health drops with the basic attack and damage equations I've found in the help menu. I can at least see how much percentage of health my opponent has left and how much damage I can do when I fight. As for enemy chakra or stamina levels well, that I have to guess from physical clues.

My math could be off on how high my level is in comparison since the damage location modifier is very important in these equations and it's dependent on where an opponent is hit on their body. Trying to remember where I landed every hit and the damage I took off in a spar is almost impossible. Wish I had something like a screen capture ability or that I could put in overlay of a person's damage location modifier on their bodies. Those fall under dojutsus which I don't have. At least the damage location modifier from the diagram I saw in the help section matches up with vital parts of the body.

The fact that I am trying to figure out my fellow inductees stats based off an equation with missing information doesn't change one very important fact. At the end of the day I am just an inductee which means that even an average genin with a few months experience can probably kick my ass. As for chunin and jonin; well, the only question they'd have in a fight is whether or not it's worth adding my corpse to their kill count numbers. Its rather annoying to me that none of the other inductees besides Temari seems to realize that what happens in the Shinobi Institute outside of our lessons isn't going to matter at all once we get our hitai-ate fully joining the Shinobi Corps.

There has been only one major disruption in the Shinobi Institute during my entire time here. That disruption happened 3 years ago when they tried to bring Gaara in to learn how to be a shinobi. For 2 days we all lived in fear because of that homicidal psychopath before he went on a murder spree. 15 inductees were killed, 32 were permanently crippled, and almost 200 dropped out after a literally bloody reign of terror. We've been exposed to killing intent in class to get us use to dealing with in on the battlefield and I can tell you with complete certainty that the killing intent I felt at that time came from Gaara and not the Ichibi. Temari told me that her father had come within a hairsbreadth of having Gaara executed over that stunt. Last anyone heard Gaara was taken under the apprenticeship of three powerful jonins in order to 'salvage his utility to the Shinobi Corps'.

Metagaming thanks to a deity, I know that the Ichibi is vital to the fragile balance of power that keeps our world at peace for the moment. Lord Reto was pretty slick asking for just the supposedly weakest biju in order to get more concessions elsewhere at the First Kage Summit since the Ichibi's power is suited for the climate of the Land of Wind. That does not change the fact that Gaara is a complete liability because someone fucked up his seal. Thanks to my Iryojutsu training, I can recall that Gaara was suffering badly from all of the effects of lack of sleep. He honestly should be dead and is probably only alive thanks to the Ichibi which is the cause of his problems in the first place.

Naruto fans from my first life would probably hate me for this idea and I know that I'd be brought before the Kazekage for questioning over knowing things I have no right to know if I voiced this out loud. Power of friendship and bonds story line be damned. Gaara should be put down like the unstable serial murderer that he is and the Ichibi sealed away in that tea kettle until an acceptable seal can be created for the next jinchuriki. No life is hard enough to justify killing your comrades for any reason. Offer Jiraiya or some other seal master an S Rank mission's pay if necessary for such a seal. Hell, I'll design one for free once I get good enough in Fuunjutsu if we still haven't got an acceptable seal by the time I'm at that skill level. A biju isn't a real military asset unless its jinchuriki can both use its power and be a functioning member of the Shinobi Corps.

This world is a lot darker than the manga writer tried to show from what I remember of the Naruto series. It also has its good points that are to be enjoyed. Autumn is a wonderful time in Suna when the wind changes direction and we get the scent of all the different spices in the wind. Crime inside the village is kept down far below what I can recall the cities of my first life having. Everyone has access to powers that would belong in a superhero comic book if they choose to work for it. Artistic expression is truly wonderful when a person can cast a weak genjutsu to show you what they truly see in their inspiration.

* * *

It was during a survival training exercise that things took an interesting turn for me in my 6th year at the Shinobi Institute. We left the Shinobi Institute and Suna proper for the exercise and headed into the open desert of the Eastern Wastelands. It a good thing that I have taken to wearing a Zas-marish to cover my spiky bluish-black hair. The shade that hat provides is a blessing out in the open desert.

Perhaps I should pause for a second to describe my outfit? It has just occurred to me that I have not once related what I look like to anyone who would read this chronicle. Let's start with my physical looks. I am very tall for my age with a wiry frame and a slightly lighter than typical olive skin tone compared to most people in Suna. My face is angular with yellow colored eyes while my hair is bluish-black and naturally spiky. The fantastic eye and hair colors of anime are real in this world.

As stated earlier, I have taken to wearing a brown Zas-marish on my head. It's a hat that's native to Suna that's like a cross between a sombrero and a cowboy hat from Earth. I wear a loose long sleeve light blue shirt and long brown pants that partially cover my darker brown boots. Over my shirt I wear two bandoliers that crisscross my chest loaded with shuriken and throwing knives. It should be noted here that kunai and "ninja star"- style shuriken are the weapon of choice in the Land of Fire, but are not universally used weapons. Suna uses throwing knives in place of kunai and our shuriken are designed more like darts rather than spinning disks. The bandoliers and most of my shirt are hidden under a brown poncho.

Returning to the survival exercise, I was standing next to Temari and both of us were standing in the first row in the center of the instructor's line of sight. Every inductee was in their full 'shinobi outfit' for the exercise. There were about 2 dozen inductees carrying puppets, 15 other inductees who had battle fans, and around 30 inductees who had scimitars. Everyone else among the inductees, including myself, had chosen supplemental disciplines that didn't require an obvious tool. My primary supplemental discipline is Fuunjutsu and I have a secondary discipline in Iryojutsu. The instructor looked over all of us as if checking to make sure we were all appropriately attired.

Once the inspection was completed, the instructor started to speak. "As you all are aware there is not much time left before you all leave the Shinobi Institute as genin. One of the vital skills you will need as a ninja is the ability to survive in the wilderness. We have been teaching you all the necessary survival skills over the past several years and now it has come time to test your ability to make use of those skills. Here in Training Ground S-3, or the Rock Garden as it's lovingly called, you all will demonstrate these skills on a 4 day survival course."

The instructor chucked at our shocked looks and then said, "I am well aware that we are in the middle of the Shinigami's Sands. However, Training Ground S-3 has been prepped to simulate the more hospitable parts of the Eastern Wastelands. Hidden across the surrounding 30 Li that make up Training Ground S-3 are shrubs, some small water catches, and even some feral animals for you to hunt. You all will be monitored by me and my fellow instructors, but we will only pull someone out of this exercise if they are in danger of dying. Otherwise, you all will be on your own. We all are here to test how much you all have been paying attention in class; we're not here to hold your hand through this exercise."

There was a pause for a second and then the instructor said, "Front and center Inductee Domon of Clan Kamiya." I quickly stepped forward and faced the instructor while wondering why I was called out like this. The instructor looked at me and then said, "Turn to face your fellow inductees."

I immediately turned on my heels and stood at attention looking at my classmates. The instructor placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke out, "As shinobi you will almost always be working in teams of some sort and all teams have leaders. At the start your team leaders will be the jonin assigned to continue your education. Later on as genin your team leader will be either a chunin, the most senior ninja on a team, or the one most knowledgeable about a target. Inductee Domon here has consistently gotten the highest rank in survival studies so he is being placed in charge of you all for this exercise. His words concerning this exercise will carry the same weight as if he was an instructor teaching you."

Some people who are only familiar with this world through the eyes of the Naruto franchise might be wondering why a chunin would command a team of genin. From what I remember, the series almost always had genin under the command of jonin. The fact is that the ranks shown in the Naruto series are not actually ranks and are actually groupings of different ranks that do similar tasks. We all informally, especially around non-shinobi, refer to a person's rank by the grouping class. Genin covers ranks G1 through G6 and are roughly equivalent to an enlisted person back on Earth. G1 through G3 genin are placed under a jonin to mentor them while G4-6 are experienced enough to handle being on a team under a chunin. Our noncommissioned officer role in the shinobi forces is handled by the C1 through C6 ranks as chunins. Unlike Earth militaries, all officers in the shinobi forces come up from the lower ranks. Jonin are our commissioned officers comprising ranks J1 through J10. J1 to J4s are typically referred to as Tokubetsu Jonin while the J10 rank is reserved for a village's Kage for the major villages or Oyabun Jonin for the smaller villages.

I noticed that a couple of my fellow inductees had some annoyance on their faces over me being given this position. There are several people who want to dethrone me from my place as the First Inductee of the Year. Personally, I don't care one way or another about the title since I'm here to learn how to be the best shinobi I can be. The title means absolutely nothing once we graduate.

The instructor also seemed to have picked up on the annoyance of my fellow inductees. He then said, "Inductee Domon also has an additional challenge because of his position. Team leaders are responsible for their subordinates. 40 percent of Inductee's Domon's grade on this exercise will be determined by how many of you pass and what your condition is when the exercise is over."

That caused all of the annoyance my peers felt to disappear while I started to get nervous. No one informed me prior to this that I was going to be team leader or that my grade in this exercise was dependent on my companions' success! I know my luck is only in the mid 50s while all my other stats are mid 90s, but I didn't think it was that bad to have my luck that far below the others. My stats might sound ridiculously high for a person let alone a 12 year old. However, the game system I live by has no ceiling on stats or levels and I'm a level 50 character. Any decent genin level ninja has got to have a level in the triple digits while heavy hitters S class ninjas are probably level 1000 plus.

Without any further instructions, the instructor vanished in a swirl of sand leaving us all alone. I could see shock in my companions' eyes at our sudden abandonment and I knew I had to do something before everyone started to panic. I kept my face as calm as I could and pulled out my watch to check the time before looking at everyone. "Okay everyone," there was a slight pause while I waited for everyone to focus on me. Their eyes just made me more nervous, but I focused on acting like I had a plan. "This exercise was a bit sudden for all of us and I'm including myself in the group for finding out about the exercise. However, we've been told time and time again that dealing with the unexpected is part of being a shinobi."

"It's 10:45am on Monday and the instructor said that this is a 4 day exercise. He did not specify whether those 4 days were calendar days or a 96 hour period. We're going to treat this like he meant a 96 hour period so we will plan for staying here until 11:00am on Friday. As long as none of us goof off we'll have this exercise in the bag. After all, the instructors were able to make Daisuke get a passing grade in our survival skills class so all of us together will lick this exercise."

There was a loud shout of indignation from the year's class clown that caused several people to laugh at my shot at Daisuke. Good, I've gotten them somewhat calmed down and not on the verge of panicking. I waited a moment for the laughter to die down using the precious seconds to think of a plan. My wisdom is my highest stat at the moment while my intelligence is my 3rd highest stat and not that many points behind my wisdom stat. That helped me come up with a basic outline of a plan. I called out, "Who here has a map of the local area?"

In all honesty, I don't need the map for myself since I've got an Atlas of the Eastern Wastelands stored in my inventory. Fuunjutsu is my primary supplemental discipline because I wanted access to my inventory screen and it has really paid off for me. My inventory screen actually turns out to be a special seal that lets me rapidly store and remove many things from the same seal array. It isn't a popular seal for ninjas to use since the seal has to be made by the user and the weight of the items in the seal normally isn't removed like it is for other storage seals. The weight is uniformly distributed across my body making for a free weight training set and I can seal the weight away by locking the inventory seal. However, if I lock the inventory seal I have to spend several minutes unlocking it so I can access my supplies again. My inventory seal is built into my belt buckle and I quickly used it to pull out my atlas.

Several other inductee produced maps of their own as I took my atlas out from behind my poncho and into view. I looked at everyone and said, "Form a circle with everyone who has a map spread out so that we all can look at the training ground." This was done soon enough and everyone was looking at a map of Training Ground S-3. There wasn't much in the training ground for reference points aside from some hills according to the map.

"Okay everyone," I said after we all had a chance to look at the map. "These three hills grouped together in southwest sector of the northeast quadrant are where we'll scope things out first to make a basecamp. It's one of best elevated areas so we can keep a good watch while still having good access to the rest of the training ground. But, before we do that we need to figure out where on the training ground the instructors dumped off at. I am going to need 8 volunteers to help us discover our current location."

This acting like I've got a plan as I come up with said plan while flying by the seat of my pants seems to work because I quickly got my volunteers. Or maybe they thought things were going to turn into a disaster soon and wanted to put some distance between themselves and the mess I was going to bring. Hopefully it's the former instead of the later. I had the volunteers leave their camping supplies so that we could take inventory of them. I then had to spend the next half hour writing down everyone's supplies so that we all knew what we had to work with.

Between everyone the group had a great selection of supplies. There were plenty of tents. We had enough food reserves to last for 3 days. Water wouldn't be an issue, but it would be preferable to find fresh water instead of resorting to purification seals to reclaim urine. The most important set of supplies were the medical supplies since those could not be replaced by what we can find in the training ground. Many of our medicines are derived from plants either native to the area or that we've accidentally introduced into local ecosystem. However, to my knowledge none of my fellow initiates knows how to or has the tools to process those plants into a proper medicine.

I finished checking over the inventory of supplies just as the last volunteer returned from their scouting mission. We were able to quickly triangulate our exact location in the southeast sector of the southeast quadrant of the training ground. I then led the group in a quick march to the proposed campsite. There was a quick check to make sure that the area was safe like we thought and then we started to set up camp.

Teams were assigned to different tasks in order to set up camp. Most teams were instructed to set up the tents. However, 4 teams had different tasks. 2 of teams with the best trackers were sent off to try and find some game for our dinner and to collect fresh water. The other two teams were composed of some of the best fighters among the inductees and they were assigned to sentry duty. I don't think that we'll have any threats on this exercise, but cautiousness never hurts in a shinobi's line of work. Our numbers left 1 person either by themselves or having to join an already full team so I put myself in that spot. I also took up the task of setting up the latrines. Someone has to do it and I think that some of my more stubborn classmates will be more willing to listen to me if they see that I won't shirk from unpleasant tasks.

* * *

Once I was done with the latrines I headed into the tent area of camp and came to my tent that had been set up for me. I knew it was mine because I had embroidered my name with a clay red thread on the inside flap of the tent. I sat down and started to plan out what I was going to have the group do for the survival exercise. There were half a dozen different ideas that were cooking in my mind and now I needed to come up with a definitive plan to see the group through the next 4 days. Part of me wished then that I had someone to talk with and bounce ideas off of to get the full picture.

However, the only person I'm close enough to consider as a 2nd in command is Temari and she's currently needed on sentry duty. There's also the problem that I don't have a way to pull Temari off the side to ask for advice without it looking like I'm asking for advice. That is something that I cannot do under any circumstances. One of the core assumptions in any form of military is that the leader knows. They know what they are doing, they have a plan to see the objective accomplished, and they have a backup plan just waiting for any situation to occur. It is a proverbial lifeline for the underlings to know everything is going to pay off in the end even if they can't see it because their leader has the full picture. If the soldiers are forced to question that belief then moral shatters and any operation is almost assuredly doomed to failure.

I have crafted the illusion that I was given a slight heads up by the instructors before this exercise began and so I already had a plan to put in place. Everyone seems to have bought that illusion so far. If they haven't, they are keeping quiet to not cause a panic. Working on the latrines alone had bought me additional time to think and I was grateful for that. However, now it was crunch time and I think I've got a solid plan. This is supposed to be a survival exercise so I'll cycle everyone through different tasks such as hunting, water gathering, sentry duty, etc. Tonight I'll ask the teams which tasks they want to do first so I can create a list of who does what.

My planning was cut short when I heard the blast of a ram's horn echoing through the camp. I immediately jumped to my feet and headed towards the east end of camp along with almost everyone else. Suna and the military forces in general throughout the Land of Wind use ram's horns like militaries back on Earth used to use bugles. The alert blast from the horn was followed by a call that caused my blood to freeze in fear: sandstorm incoming.

Sandstorms are nothing to joke about; especially if they are happening here in the Shinigami Sands. The Ichibi spent many decades roaming these parts of the Eastern Wastelands and there are many pockets of sand still laced with its dangerous chakra. These pockets can be unearthed by a sandstorm and made part of the storm. If that happens, the potential lethality of a sandstorm shoots up astronomically. Biju chakra is very dangerous to people if it's unfiltered by coming from an unsealed biju. Best way I can describe its effects to someone from Earth is that it's like radiation poisoning in what it does to the body. Unlike radiation sickness, biju chakra poisoning is both treatable and reversible if you can get a person away from the biju chakra. Our own chakra naturally acts like a shield against biju chakra. However, biju chakra rapidly wears down human chakra so you need phenomenal chakra reserves to do anything around an unsealed biju without getting chakra poisoning.

I forced myself to head towards the sound of the horn even though I was scared out of my mind. Part of me was puzzled when I reached the sentry line and found a puzzled group of sentries without a sign of a cloud on the horizon. The horn call was heard again only slightly louder this time. I quickly unsealed my handheld telescope and started to scan the horizon trying to find the hunting team who had blown the horn. If someone messed up the horn call I will be annoyed. If someone is trying to play a game, there will be hell to pay. One of the sentries was also searching with a similar telescope and she called out to get everyone's attention while pointing at a spot. I rapidly moved my telescope to the spot she indicated.

Through my telescope I saw one of the hunting teams running like Gaara was on their ass wanting to kill them. One of them was holding a horn and blew the warning yet again. This caused me to make a decision as I know they wouldn't run like that for a prank. I turned to one of the sentries and said, "Pull Sora from Team Roadrunner and have him grab an emergency pack from storage. Tell him to run as fast as he can to Team Horned Toad and to get them into shelter if I have the Take Cover call sounded." The sentry nodded his head and ran to find Sora. Part of me was worried about risking Sora, but I had four other subordinates out there in Team Horned Toad. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if they got caught out in the open in a sandstorm because they weren't warned.

Team Coyote soon was able to be seen without the aid of a telescope and I started to jog out to meet them. The team's leader Riku ran over to me and called out, "There's a massive sandstorm coming in from the west. I estimate 20 to 25 minutes before it hits camp."

I nodded my head and replied, "Understood." The next thing I did was to seal my telescope away and unseal my ram's horn. Within a second the horn was at my lips and I blew out the Take Cover call. I then bellowed out, "Pull back now! I want everyone to grab a supply pack, double check their tent's setup, and batten down for the storm. Past the word as you go." We all might have been 12 and the occasional 13 year olds, but we were all trained on what to do in these situations. That training and the fact that I was issuing sound orders kept camp from falling into pandemonium. For the next 15 minutes I was patrolling the camp making sure that everyone else was in their tents with some supplies in case the storm lasted a while. Sandstorms can last from a few minutes to several hours and we don't have things like weather satellites to help predict how long they'll last.

The sandstorm could be seen on the horizon by the time I was sure everyone else was safe in their tents. I grabbed some supplies from storage and fastened the tarp over the remaining supplies to protect them. I darted to my tent as soon as the supplies were protected and closed it shut. At this point I closed my eyes and started to pray for Sora and Team Horned Toad's safety. There was nothing else that I could do at this point.

All too soon, I heard what sound almost like a very heavy rain hitting my tent. The sandstorm had reached the camp. I closed my eyes at this point and tried to relax. Now wasn't the time to focus on the sandstorm. As the group's leader I should be using this time to figure out what is going to happen after the sandstorm ends. First thing I needed to do was consider what options I had for when the storm was going to end. It could last for a few minutes, it could last for an hour, or the storm could go on all night. Each situation had to be planed for.

Without any warning, I saw my chakra gauge appear in my mind's eye and it started to drop. This didn't make any sense to me since I wasn't using any jutsu. I hadn't eaten anything recently or cut myself on anything so poison was extremely unlikely. Chakra reserves don't just start depleting themselves on their own!

My eyes widened in horror as a dreadful thought came to me. The chakra drop started when the sandstorm hit. A sandstorm in the Shinigami Sands causing chakra reserves to be used up could only mean one thing: the Ichibi's unfiltered chakra was in the sand. I immediately sent up a prayer that only a small portion of the sand in this sandstorm had that chakra. The chakra had to be at least somewhat diluted or my reserves would be dropping way faster than they currently were.

Honestly, this was the first time in my life that I wished I didn't live my life like it was a video game. There is something supremely terrifying to be able to see one's chakra decrease at a relentless pace and being able to say precisely when my health was going to be hit. You can't bullshit yourself saying that you're coping with the situation or that you're dealing with it better now. It's just cold hard numbers that won't lie and can't be reasoned with.

Just as I was about to completely lose my cool I saw a notification appear. Desperately, I read it hoping it stated I was caught in a genjutsu or something. Hell, even a resist biju chakra skill notification would be nice right about now. The notification was just 4 simple words: Dormant Kekkei Genkai activated.


	5. Chapter 5

My next memory after getting the notification that I had awakened my kekkei genkai was hearing two people talking while I still had my eyes closed. As per my training, I pretended to still be unconscious and listened in to the conversation to find out what was going on.

"It's a miracle sir. All the inductees should be in need of extensive therapy from biju chakra exposure. However, every inductee that was in the base camp was protected even though the concentrations of the biju chakra surrounding the camp were at the upper limits that a person can live through."

"What is the status of the 5 inductees who were away from camp?"

"About as one would expect sir. They are all looking at a 20 month recovery period. One of my assistants is already contacting the Shinobi Institute to plan a modified training program for them coinciding with their recovery therapy. We are tentatively estimating that they will be able to graduate with the current 4th year inductees."

I felt like someone had stabbed an icicle into my chest when I heard that bit of information. I sent Sora and Team Horned Toad out away from camp. Their condition was my fault. If they had been in camp then whatever had protected us would have protected them as well.

"Good initiative on recovering the wounded Initiates for the shinobi corps doctor. I will see that all the expenses for their care are confirmed as approved personally. We should consider ourselves lucky that only 5 inductees were taken out by this disaster. All of the current 6th year inductees would be in that condition if Domon hadn't inherited his uncle's kekkei genkai to the extent that he did."

That news nearly caused me to open my eyes in surprise. I protected everyone in camp with my unknown kekkei genkai? I had an uncle who also had this kekkei genkai? This information came with a village full of questions that I never thought about and needed to have answered. My family had never been something I really cared to think about. They were obviously dead or I wouldn't be in the orphanage. What would be the point of looking them up? I'd just be tormenting myself with what might have been if I knew what my parents were like.

I then heard the doctor voice said, "Sir, Inductee Domon's medical file does not list his kekkei genkai. There is a note that he has one, but there are no specifics. How do you know that he saved the other inductees? Is there any particular medical needs that the inductee with require with his kekkei genkai?"

The other voice firmly said, "You will cease this line of questioning immediately doctor. Inductee Domon's kekkei genkai is currently classified until the boy fully joins the Shinobi Corps. I know what his kekkei genkai is and I have read the reports of the shinobi team that was sent to recover the inductees. A subconscious use of Inductee Domon's kekkei genkai is the only thing that could have saved the inductees and left the results that were documented."

"As you wish sir," was the quick response I heard from the doctor.

With that, the conversation I was listening in on ended leaving me alone with my thoughts. My first reaction was to go into my main menu screen and look at my feats. I was hoping that it would list my now active kekkei genkai. I wanted to scream out in rage when I looked at my feats list and saw Enhanced Kekkei Genkai with the following description. Unknown kekkei genkai has activated in an unusually strong manner for the user. Creates the ? skill and allows access to ? related jutsus.

Why the hell can't I find out about my own damn kekkei genkai? It's a part of me and apparently my use of it is the only reason why my class isn't being held back two years from fully joining the Shinobi Corps. Further consideration on this fact later that night had me wondering about the butterfly effect. Had Temari being the chunin exams that were recorded in the Naruto series been because she had been recovering from biju chakra exposure in the original timeline? It was a line of questioning that I would be asking myself for months before getting some sleep. However, it wasn't a question I particularly cared about at that moment in time. What I wanted right then was an answer as to why I didn't know what my kekkei genkai was.

I exited my main menu and started to think about what I knew about the game system ruling my life and how it pertained to my skills. I didn't gain skills instantly from teachers or skill books like what often happened in video games back in my first life. At least, I'm pretty sure that things happened like that in video games. My memories on that fact are a little fuzzy. I know they're like that in some of the pen and paper RPGs that we have here in Suna.

Thinking about the tabletop RPGs gave me a realization. In the games your characters learn skills instantly as an abstraction of them learning something over time in the game. Only the poorest of GMs would allow a player's character to acquire a skill without some explanation of how they learned it. Every time I gained a skill I was taught it by either learning from someone or from a book I read. In every instance I knew what I was going to be learning about when the skill was created. I knew what I was learning so the skill had the appropriate name. I don't know what my kekkei genkai is so I don't have the appropriate name in my game system.

Logically, it stood to reason that once I learned what my kekkei genkai was the missing information would be revealed in my main menu screen. That thought put most of my frustrations to rest over not knowing what my kekkei genkai was. Don't get me wrong, I was still annoyed that I didn't know something important about myself. I was just able to calm down about it since I now had an explanation for why I didn't know.

* * *

I was discharged from the hospital 3 days after I overheard the conversation along with every other inductee who had been in the base camp. A nurse or maybe some other ninja who knew what signs to look for had released the fact that I had somehow protected everyone in the base camp from biju chakra exposure. That made things awkward for me when I had people asking what I did when I honestly didn't know. I don't know if Temari put in a word about me to her father or if a memo about a possible security breach had been kicked up the chain of command. All I know for sure is that Lord Rasa sent out a memo to the shinobi forces two days after I was released from the hospital.

The memo was brief and to the point: Inductee Domon instinctively used a jutsu to protect the 6th year inductees during the dust storm. Said inductee is not aware of what jutsu he used and will receive proper training in this jutsu once he has fully joined the Shinobi Corps. Any further discussion of this matter will be deemed a violation of a rank C military secret.

It was because of the last sentence of the memo that I never asked Temari if she had mentioned things to her father. Violating rank C secrets earns you a decade long stay in prison no if ands or buts. I was curious about my kekkei genkai, but a decade long trip to the big house was too high of a price to pay on a gamble. Besides, I probably wouldn't get an answer out of her anyway.

My time after the training exercise incident was spent training with renewed effort. I had visited the 5 inductees that had been away from base camp during that storm. Seeing them in the condition they were in strengthened my resolve to do my best as a shinobi. Hopefully, I'll become strong and smart enough to make incidents where people under my protection are hurt few and far between. Trying to be strong enough to prevent things like this from ever happening is a fool's dream. It's a wonderful dream to be sure, but it's still a fool's dream. All one can really do is try their best to increase the times between disasters and to mitigate those disasters when they happen.

Temari was the only one in the Shinobi Institute that matched my drive when it came to studying the shinobi arts. I remember her confiding to me once that she never wanted to feel as scared and helpless again as she felt during the storm. Feeling the biju chakra eating away at her own chakra caused many nightmares she had regarding the Ichibi to raise to the surface before I preformed whatever jutsu it was that protected the camp. She needed a friend to help her through reliving those nightmares and that is all anyone will get out of me on that subject.

In addition to being a training partner, Temari also helped me in my self-appointed quest to find out about my heritage. It's an official quest as far as my game life is concerned because I got the popup asking me if I accepted the quest. Those notices have honestly become background noise to me by this point. I only took note of that notification because it was the first self-appointed quest and it surprised me since I had previously thought I couldn't give myself quests. It had come up in one of our discussions after I found out about why Temari's training drive had increased. Temari, to my surprise and hope, had asked me to let her help me in my research.

It was an enjoyable and yet frustrating time for the two of us as we tried to unravel my past. One would think that with me knowing my father, grandfather, and my clan's name that it should be easy to find my lineage in Suna's records. We don't have search engines, computers, or something like them from my first life. My research involved looking through paper records stored in the library archives. It's much more tedious than what my first life had to deal with when it came to looking things up. Still, one would think that Temari and I would have found everything we needed in a couple of hours.

However, luck just wasn't with Temari and I as our first roadblock was the fact that there was no Bakin Kamiya, Ichiro Kamiya, or even a Clan Kamiya of Sunagakure. The two of us had to spend a day hunting down a copy of my birth certificate and then we discovered a very interesting fact: I wasn't born in Sunagakure. I was actually born in Akasuna which is a small trading village about 20 days caravan travel from Suna. The village is still in the Eastern Wastelands and thus owes fealty to Suna and the Kazekage.

It took some further research and some detective work for Temari and me to figure out how my infant ass ended up in to Sunagakure. I wouldn't have been shipped to Sunagakure's orphanage by Akasuna's elders because of the distance. If Clan Kamiya of Akasuna died out then one of the other residents of the village should have taken me in. The answer came about a week and a half after we found my birth certificate in the form of my mother's discharge papers. My mother was a ninja from Suna who decided to not reenlist after her first mandatory decade long term of service was up. She had gotten married to my father and wanted to raise a family. It's actually a fairly common thing for kunoichis to just serve the mandatory decade long service after one graduate's from the Shinobi Institute and not reenlist for the optional 5 year enlistments.

We thought that this might be a break in finding out about my heritage. However, there was one nasty snag. When my parents married, my mother's legal name became Mira wife of Bakin son of Ichiro of Clan Kamiya from Akasuna. Any other references to her in the unclassified archives that we could find just listed her as Mira such as in the text of my parents' marriage contract or as Mira Kamiya. Her maiden name could not be found and without that I wouldn't have the faintest clue where to look for that side of my family tree.

As a minor, my access to legal documents is rather limited. I was able to access what I had because they were in the non-classified archives of the Suna library and I am technically a ward of the Kazekage. My asking to see those records is legally seen to be the same as any child asking their parent to see those documents from the family's private records. I could look at my mother's unclassified documents in the village records with the same reasoning. There was just one massive catch. I would need to put my mother's full maiden name on the request form as part of the documentation needed to get those documents from the archives. It's a safety precaution put in place to insure that private information isn't leaked out of the records.

My mother's married name doesn't do me any good on this part of my quest. The only legal documents in Suna's archives for that name are mom's marriage contract and her discharge papers. Any other legal documents under her married name and all of my father's legal documents would be stored in Akasuna's records. That leaves me up shit creek without a paddle because the only way I can request those documents from Akasuna's archives is via a notarized request with my guardian's signature. I'm not about to send a request to the Kazekage asking him to sign a record request for me. From what I've gathered from Temari, he wouldn't be too happy about taking time to have to consider the request.

The best bet on that front is to wait until I become a genin, build up a good reputation with my Jonin teacher, and then ask him or her to send the request. Guardianship of underage orphan genin is transferred to their Jonin teacher upon assignment. Jonin mentors also have in loco parentis for genin from clans under their command when they are outside of Suna. Becoming a ninja doesn't make you an adult in the eyes of the law. In Suna and most other hidden villages, you're considered a child until the age of 16. There are places where you have to be even older like in many of the tribes of the northern steppe and the southern desert.

* * *

I'm not too annoyed at the wait since it's only a couple more weeks until training ends at the Shinobi Institute. Training had almost completely switched over to drills and combat training with just a little bit of classroom work. Said classroom work almost completely focused on information we would need as shinobi. I must admit that the combat training is something I have grown to enjoy. This is especially true when I get to spar against one of my classmates.

Temari and I were facing off against each other in a spar under the watchful gaze of one of the Shinobi Institute trainers. The fact that I'm fighting a good friend doesn't bother me as I watch for Temari to make the first move. I'm pretty sure that a guy fighting against a girl in a sparring match would be frowned upon back on Earth. I know it is in some countries on this world. However, that kind of attitude isn't tolerated in Suna. I remember what one of our instructors told us back when we were starting to spar years ago. "You'll face many different types of opponents in battle. It doesn't matter whether she has tits or he has a dick. All that matters is to beat the opponent by achieving your mission objective before he or she can achieve theirs."

Our spar had a few limitations placed on it. No genjutsus, fuuinjutsus, or poisons above C grade were permitted. Furthermore, Temari and I were limited to the use of one ninjutsu that we chose beforehand. Temari had chosen Kamaitachi as her available ninjutsu. I had chosen Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu for my one jutsu. This was supposed to be a test of our resourcefulness focusing mainly on our taijutsu and tool usage. Some of the observing initiates were a little surprised at my ninjutsu choice since I had chosen a D rank ninjutsu instead of a C rank ninjutsu like Temari chose. Those initiates were near the lower ends of academic performance.

Temari and I bowed to each other and assumed our fighting stances. She had a regulation training battle fan in her hand while I had a training throwing knife in each hand. Training knives are dulled so you have to use more force to cut the skin or to get them to stick in the target. Training battle fans are almost twice as heavy as a regular battle fan and built to easily break in melee if you don't use the casing exactly right. Temari opened up by jumping several feet backwards which is a very common move for a tessenjutsu practitioner. It gives battle fan user time and distance to use their battle fan for its primary purpose.

I responded before Temari had even gotten to the midpoint of her jump by throwing the knife in my left hand. Said hand went into my poncho to replace the thrown knife while I readied to throw the knife in my right hand in an instant. Temari would have to use her fan to block the knife at this distance since she couldn't use it to change her trajectory. Even a skilled puppet user wouldn't have been able to create chakra threads and pull themselves out of the way of the knife in the time Temari had.

As expected, Temari used her training fan to block the knife and did it in a way to easily defend herself from any following knives. This gave her enough time to land safely on the ground. I threw the knife in my right hand towards her feet forcing her to move again as I ran towards her. The spar's limitations left my offensive abilities to a very short range while Temari focused on long range fighting. Both Temari and I were trying to take control of the fight at this stage. If she could get some distance a few seconds she could unfurl her fan and take control. On the other hand, I needed to keep that fan closed and stick close to her so I could control the fight.

This wasn't the first time or even among the first dozen times Temari and I had sparred. It was the first time we had sparred in more than a month and it was the first time we had sparred with the current restrictions. Temari had gotten better and quickly demonstrated a near perfect Wallaroo Leap. The Wallaroo Leap is a tessenjutsu where the user preforms a backflip, plants their closed battle fan in the ground mid leap, and uses the fan to change the direction of their back flip while using their falling body to open the fan. Nasty thing about the Wallaroo Leap when it's being used against you is that it creates a decent gust of wind when done properly. That gust slowed me down and gave Temari enough time to adjust her grip after landing so she could properly use her fan as a battle fan.

My opponent was never one to let others have something she had and wanted to keep to herself. Temari unleashed a Kamaitachi seconds after she had her battle fan unfurled. I rolled out of the way, but I was unfortunately forced to roll father away from Temari. A volley of Kamaitachis followed after the first one and I had weave, roll, and jump out of the way. It was a delicate time for both of us in the fight and we were both aware of this fact.

We were in a two way race seeing who would make a mistake first and whose reserves would run out first. Each of us was favored in one of the races. Temari had the advantage in making a mistake since she only had to hit me once with a Kamaitachi whereas I had to avoid them all. On the other hand, Temari's chakra reserves are much smaller than my stamina reserves are in comparison. I also regenerate my stamina incredibly fast for a prolonged fight while her ability to regenerate chakra is very minimal.

I decided to mix things up by jumping into the ground using the Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu. This is actually a very easy jutsu to use, but it is extremely hard to master. The basis of this skill is to use your chakra to easily dig through dirt without creating a massive hole so that you can swim, for lack of a better term, in the soil. You're then supposed to pull your victim into the soften ground to either trap them for questioning or kill them via suffocation. The ground hardens to its regular state within seconds after the chakra used to soften it is removed. Many also avoid using the attack part of the jutsu and just use it as a quick way to hide.

Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu sounds like an incredibly powerful jutsu as with a relatively low chakra cost you can pull your enemies into the earth to their deaths. However, I said that it was an extremely hard jutsu to master and that is because it has many flaws in it. First, you're underground so you don't have any air to breathe with. This means that you need to either be very quick and accomplish your goal while you hold your breath or you need to use a breathing tube and snorkel your way through the ground. That breathing tube feeds into the next major problem with the Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu which is trying to avoid being detected while using the jutu. Like when you swim in water, it is very tricky to 'swim' underground without disturbing the surface of the ground so that you don't give away your position. We actually had to be taught how to swim underwater before we had the skills to master this simple jutsu.

I could practically feel the glare that the instructor was shooting me for mangling my one allowed jutsu like I did. My dive was too shallow to properly execute the jutsu. However, it did let me rapidly approach Temari while offering some protection which is what I wanted. I was able to see where I was going since my eyes were above ground and I closed in on Temari before she could react to my unorthodox move. With a shove, I forced myself out of the ground and tackled her legs. My right arm held her legs together with the throwing knife placed to cut one of her Achilles tendons. The knife in my left hand was positioned next to her butt.

A second after I got into this position the instructor called out, "Match set. Domon is the victor. End the match properly and clear the field." I let go of Temari and put away the two throwing knives in my hand. Then I had to collect the throwing knives that I had thrown earlier in the match while Temari grabbed and closed her battle fan. We returned to the center of the ring and bowed to each other again. After that, the two of us headed over to the nearby medic who quickly checked us over to make sure we didn't have any major injuries.

* * *

Suna's baths are truly a treat for anyone able to go to one. Tenji's Bathhouse was one of the more modest bathing establishments in the village and it still boasted a range of amenities that would be the envy to spa locations in other countries. The walls of the bathhouse were filled with colored ceramic tiles that were cut to create amazing arabesque patterns. There was a hint of incense in the air to add a favorable aroma to the bathhouse without being overpowering. There even was a music box that softly played a soothing, but decade old song in the background.

Both the orphanage and the Shinobi Institute have deals with Tenji's Bathhouse which gives them coupons for prepaid sessions at the bathhouse. These coupons are often used as rewards for older students and I always make sure to win one when I can. It was the day after my spar with Temari at the Institute and I was enjoying the massage part of the bathhouse coupon. That enjoyment was tempered with an occasional ache as the 4th year Inductee who was learning about massage as part of her civilian undercover course slipped here and there on proper massage technique.

Several other Inductees were there with me also using their coupons and being training dummies for their underclassmen. It was obvious that some of the student masseurs were less talented, had less experience, or both judging from the looks on my companions' faces. I hid a wince as the student working on me messed up again. The coupons to the bathhouse were wonderful, but the massage part of the experience was always at your own risk since the coupons locked you into using the student masseurs. Some have some talent and can give a very pleasant massage. Others might want to reconsider their planned undercover routine. This one in particular might want to brush up on her massage lessons before returning to working on customers.

The massage ends and I get a pop up message which is almost certainly about my massage. I open it on a lark to see what the game system makes of the massage I got. The message was simple. Messed up Massage: + 1% stamina regeneration for 4 hours and - 1% chakra regeneration for 4 hours. That's really bad for a massage bonus. Usually, they add to both stamina regeneration and chakra regeneration.

Soon the student masseurs left the other four inductees and me alone to relax. Shinji glanced at me and said, "Man Domon did you do something to annoy Old Man Tenji so that you got stuck with that poor excuse of a masseur?"

One of the others cut in, "Don't be so hard on the girl Shinji. Everyone has to start somewhere. The girl was probably nervous giving her first massage. You saw how young she was."

Shinji replied, "That's very charitable for you to say Shirou. But, it wasn't your back that the girl was treating like a slab of meat to be tenderized now was it?"

I shot a quick glare at Shinji and said, "Shirou is right Shinji. The underclassman was obviously learning how to give a massage. Wish it was someone else's back who she got first crack at to practice on. However, it doesn't change the fact to someone had to be the first person she gave a massage to in her training."

Shirou then spoke up trying to change the conversation. "That was an interesting win against Temari in your spar yesterday Domon. What made you think of using Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu in that manner?"

I shrugged my shoulders and then said, "It was pure improvisation on my part. I chose that jutsu since it opened up another area for me to move in the match. Temari was much better at range in that match due to the regulations and our skill sets."

Shinji cut in and said, "Maybe you should have picked a better jutsu in the spar. Like say, a ranged attack jutsu?"

Okay, I'm not about to let myself get lectured about my tactical decisions by someone whose near the bottom of the barrel for our year at the Shinobi Institute. The instructors can question my decisions. Any active shinobi has the right to question my decisions since I'm a greenhorn. Hell, I'll let Temari or a few other fellow inductees who are near the top of the class question me when it comes to something they're good at.

I sent Shinji another glare and said, "When you have limited options in a fight it's always advisable to use your options so that they're most effective against your opponent's weaknesses. Kamaitachi uses a fair amount of chakra. Temari definitely has larger reserves than most people in our year, but I have larger reserves. My current ninjutsu skills do not lend themselves to long range combat. Had I been allowed to use genjutsu or fuunjutu my attack options would be very different. Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu gave me the ability to use the ground as a shield from Temari's attacks."

Shinji turned his head away and I caught a dark look appearing on his face for a split second. Shinji, from what I can recall, is one of those people who feels slighted when he gets what he's earned because he thinks his abilities are worth so much more than they actually are worth. I don't have many classes with him so I don't know much more about him than that. Word around the Institute is that Shinji is absolutely pathetic when it comes to his family's jutsus. How much truth there is to that I can't say.

Thankfully, Shinji decided to get up and left us in the little relaxation room. Several of the others in the room started to chat about something that had caught their interest. I only paid partial attention to what they were saying as I let the music and incense work their magic. It was good to relax when I could since I know my time for fun will be limited.

We have just 2 weeks to go before we become genin. Suna doesn't have any sort of 'final exam' to become genin like Konoha did in the Naruto series. If you make it through the six years of the Shinobi Institute without dropping out, being kicked out, or held back you were in the Suna Shinobi Corps. It was a reasonable system since by this point all inductees had been tested and tempered to the point where even the bottom the barrel like Shinji were a force to be respected.

Graduating wasn't too bad in my mind. I was nervous about it, but at the same time I wanted to move beyond the Shinobi Institute. A part of me was nervous since becoming a genin would mean going on missions that could be potentially fatal. There's also the concern always at the back of my mind about why I am here. In 4 or 5 years, if my estimate is right, Akatsuki will be on the move and Madara's plans will need to be stopped. Is that enough time for me to properly prepare?


End file.
